Comments on: Pink-Headed Duck Rediscovered?

By: richardthorns

richardthorns — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:47:39 +0000

Tom1212

Did you get ANY info from the locals?

See the pictures on my blog website? Loren has put the link on this page to the site (he is a gem!).

I am thinking about the Tanai river or the Nawng Kwin wetlands in the autumn.

By: tom1212

tom1212 — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:57:46 +0000

really interesting stuff, i was in nagaland last yr n east india and had a good look around for the p h d, no luck but its just the thrill you could get that perfect pic!!(if its still out there) i’d love to think richards photo is a p h d-gives one hope but i dont think it is somehow

By: Fhqwhgads

Fhqwhgads — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:19:29 +0000

Since the original photographer is still available, it should be possible to test the reliability of the photo by borrowing a few duck decoys and photographing them with the same camera at a similar distance, against a similar background, and with the sun in the same relative position. In particular, I’d be interested in seeing if a little red bleeds over onto the image of a white duck.

By: catnip kid

catnip kid — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:53:16 +0000

When living in a suburban area that still had deep woods nearby we had a genuine red headed woodpecker take up residence for a year. We called area nature centers around. NO ONE would believe us. Their bird “experts” said that didn’t happen! They said they got plenty of calls like this, and they never believed any of them! This was years ago, before camcorders and such. So, I believe that supposedly extinct duck could just have a few survivors. Ditto for the ivory billed woodpecker.

By: Munnin

Munnin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:46:32 +0000

Having attempted to shoot photos of birds in their natural habitat myself, I can add my corroboration to those here who point out the extremely challenging nature of doing this. I once spent 12 weekends in a row photographing birds in an area which was rich with many different species. Out of hundreds of shots taken, I ended up with ONE very good, usable photo of a white crowned sparrow, LOL! And I agree with Mr. Coleman that the bird observed in Wisconsin was likely to be a merganser.

It’s really hard to say whether the recent photo by Mr. Thorns shows a pink-headed duck. It’s hard to see the bill, which would be helpful in making the ID. Also, in most of the depictions I see of the pink-headed duck, there is a marked contrast between the dark color of the body and the light color of the neck and head, and there seems to less of a contrast in Mr. Thorns’s photo. That could be due to the quality of the light, and/or the time of year - if the plumage of this species varies seasonally, which may be the case. I don’t know.

Also, in the subject of this photo the plumage on the “cap” (top of the head) and even the foremost part of the face, including the eye, seems much darker than that of the rest of the head, or the neck. While some individual pink-headed ducks in the painting, and in other depictions, appear to have a dark stripe on the top of the head, the stripe does not really cover the face nor the eyes, as it seems to do in the photo by Mr. Thorns.

For me, the jury is still out on this one.

By: SKM

SKM — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:21:06 +0000

It’s a white neck (on the edges) with a darker shadow going down the middle.

By: Averagefoot

Averagefoot — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:04:26 +0000

From the blown up image it looks like the duck has white tail feathers or maybe primary feathers and as the first comment noted it also seems to have a pink neck and dark head instead of the other way around.

On the other hand, if you look closely this might just be an optical illusion. I think the plants and sticks in the forground might actually be what is making the head look dark and the white tail feathers might be a leaf hitting the light or something. It’s really hard to say, hopefully it is a pink-headed duck, it’s always great to find out that a species thought extinct is still alive and well.

By: Fhqwhgads

Fhqwhgads — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:35:59 +0000

The more I look at it, the more I think it is a white neck with a dark head — a color scheme that is common enough. Notice there is a lot of the same shade of “pink” in the vegetation to the left. A little chromatic aberration could cause this.

By: richardthorns

richardthorns — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:57:11 +0000

Hi there, this is a message for the prof and others out there to say thank you for your support. To be honest I never went out there to that part of Burma in the expectation of ever getting a PHD on video or a good shot (the anecdotal evidence was really useful in itself), but I appreciated the fact that you understood how difficult it is to photograph such birds in the wild [everything on the lake(s) seemed to immediately flush no matter what we did!].

The distance shot of the bird on the lake is what you see AFTER full X42 magnification of the camcorder, so you can imagine how far away the bird actually was! The shot wasn’t the best, but it was so fantastic to be out there trying to find this wonderful and notoriously elusive bird.

All the best.
Richard.

By: cryptidsrus

cryptidsrus — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:08:04 +0000

I agree with Quakerhead.
Looks pink to me. Not conclusive, but provocative nevertheless. This is why I would never photograph something “cryptid” but simply observe. Even if it was a perfect clear picture, there would still be naysayers.