GW Teal X Mallard drake at Santee Lakes, 20 Feb 2019

There is a pretty spiffy looking  Green-winged Teal x Mallard (?) cross  drake at Santee Lakes, first spotted by Char Glacy and also seen by Sara Mayers, Barb Carlson, Marcie Mason and myself this morning.  It was viewed from the children's artificial rock playground island on Lake 5 (there is bridge to island). Head is cinnamon and green, much like a Green-winged Teal but cinnamon on cheek and neck is paler than crown, and with bordering black neck ring, and mottled  cinnamon breast. Flanks and wings pretty much uniform palish grey, black undertail coverts and tail separated from grey flanks by white vertical line; bill size and shape more Mallard-like than Teal-like; bill mostly yellow with some darker markings.  I took some lousy digi-bins pcs with my phone, which are on our checklist at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52967445

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Susan Smith
Seiurus Biological Consulting
Del Mar, CA
Source: SanDiegoRegionBirding Latest Reports