ID help...confirmation...

[Geoff Newhouse]

This young bird was hanging around a lot of American Widgeon...however I believe it to be a juvenile Lesser Scaup. Lesser Scaup were present on the same pond/marsh but this bird always stayed with the Widgeon. Can anyone confirm or deny my ID?

The first image is the proposed Lesser Scaup, the 2nd is a sample of about 8 American Widgeons it was hanging out with. Is this a juvenile Widgeon or female? I'm guessing all 8 of these were juveniles also.

Thanks

 

[Paul Guris]

Top bird looks like a female / juvenile Ring-necked Duck to me. Contrasting head color, head shape, eye ring, and lack of sharp white all the way around the bill point more toward Ring-necked than scaup. It appears that there may be juv. / new pin feathers in the head so probably a juvenile but I'm not really sure.

I'd have to do some digging to separate female from juvenile American Wigeon but the feather edging looks really fresh and I don't expect the adults to molt into fresh plumage for a few months yet, so I'd lean towards it being a juvenile.