Q :

From Kurt Knisely on March 31, 2008.

Re:  Ducks

I am new to birding, so I thought you could help me.  I have been seeing a medium-sized black-capped duck with white sides that scoots along the water and is a good diver.  I have seen it at the CEI Power Plant in Eastlake and in Avon on the west side.  Nothing in my field guides quite match up.  Could you identify it for me?  

Thank you.  Kurt Knisely

A : 

Anders Fjeldstad passed along the following comments:  

This is difficult to answer without more detail because experienced birders don't think primarily of color when we identify birds.  We first figure out what Family of birds the unknown bird is;  Kurt says it is a Duck; it may or may not be.  If it is, it could be a Bufflehead; but that should be easy to ID.

Photo by Andy Wilson

Female

Photo by Harvey Kirsch

Male

When we see a Bird, we think first of Size and Shape (and both of these categories are a lot harder than many people think!) and Behavior and Flying Style and a number of other things.

 Color is so far down on the list that we only use it to ID to a particular species.

 So, when people ask what Bird they saw using primarily Color, that's like saying they saw a Red Truck and then they ask "What make and model is it?"