[EBB Sightings] Lake Merritt Hybrid Merganser

	<492F84D6.5080108 at powersedit.com>

Further details including this scenario can be found at:

Morlan, J. 2005. Featured photo: An apparent hybrid between Hooded
Merganser and Barrow's Goldeneye at Lake Merritt, Oakland, California.
Western Birds 36:279-282. 

Text here: http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/Morlan%20hybrid%20goldeneye.htm
Photos: http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/Cover-1.jpg


On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:42:46 -0800, Hilary Powers 
wrote:

>But someone on the walk came up with the best 
>explanation I've heard for how such a creature occurs: not a matter of 
>his daddy getting lucky, as I've always supposed, but of his grandma, 
>Ol' Lady Hoodie, slipping an egg into a Barrows Goldeneye nest.

>Apparently ducks do the mystery egg-put a lot, by way of improving their 
>reproductive success, and they're not all that precise about the species 
>of the nest they invade. So you could have a pure-blood Hooded Merganser 
>raised by and imprinted upon goldeneyes, with this natural result in the 
>next generation.

-- 
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94044   jmorlan (at) ccsf.edu 
S.F. Birding Classes start Oct 28   http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/
California Bird Records Committee   http://www.wfo-cbrc.org/cbrc/