Canvasback musings

On evening of 04/06 - a drizzly, gloomy one, local birder Gareth Casburn Whatsapped me some pics of an odd looking Pochard-type at Ardley ERF lagoon, near Bicester. Being a regular at Ardley along with Gareth and having nothing better to do that evening, I popped over for a closer look as the light faded.

If it was a Pochard then great, a decent bird for the site, but with a bill like that, there was certainly a good resemblance to Canvasback and so it certainly deserved further scrutiny!

On arrival in the drizzle and poor light, I soon picked the bird out, relatively close dabbling in the muddy shallows amongst several Mallard. Presumably a female, to me it straight away appeared different to Pochard, most notably the obviously long, dark bill; all one colour, long neck and dark lores, in fact the whole head was one colour. All pro Canvasback features.

To me, the head shape seemed a bit off, seemingly quite flat-crowned, rather than the more prominant rounded head shape of Canvasback - I think this could perhaps be the result of it feeding in the muddy shallows, coupled with the wet weather.

From the views I had, the bird gave the overall impression of having a relatively dark base colour, however as can be seen from Gareth's earlier views in a brief window of sun, the bird was in reality considerably paler (see video below). Again having flicked through a lot of Canvasback images online, the paler colouration is certainly a better fit.

The bird was tentaively put out as a possible Canvasback to the Oxon Whatsapp group and I threw it on Twitter for comment. Surprisingly, the news services didn't latch on, even as a probable, however overall consensus seemed to suggest it appeared to be one. Frustratingly the bird departed overnight and so there was no further opportunity for others to give it a further grilling, curtailing any further interest sadly!

So if it was indeed a Canvasback, what of it's provenance? Well in reality, we just can't be sure. I observed it flapping a couple of times, showing it to be fully winged, while Gareth's footage appers to show it to be un-ringed. But while these add some level of credibility, it still doesn't rule out an escape. 

Intruigingly that very same week, a 2cy drake Canvasback also appeared in the Netherlands, as did a handful of American Golden Plovers in the UK, while Irelands Yellow-Crowned Night Heron was discovered just over a week previously too. So maybe, just maybe - but in reality can't to a heck of a lot with it, as agonising as that is!