Lophodytes cucullatus

tags: Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Rick Wright [larger view]. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes: A pretty bird but not a hard one: the long tail, black upperparts, chestnut sides, and black-and-white head identify this bird readily enough as a drake Hooded Merganser. What this photo illustrates well,…
tags: Male Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Male Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Rick Wright. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes: The challenge of this mystery bird is less to diagnose its identity than to figure out how you identified this fine male Hooded Merganser. The responses from readers point to two very different modes of…