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Tadorna tadorna
Family of shelducks, parents and babies seen in the sea in the beach near the dock for ferries going to Iona. They went farther in the sea the moment they saw me so the pictures could only catch them from far. Adults have a reddish-pink bill, pink feet, a white body with chestnut patches and a black belly, and a dark green head and neck. The wing coverts are white, the primary remiges black, and the secondaries green (only showing in flight) and chestnut. The underwings are almost entirely white. Sexes are similar, but the female is smaller, with some white facial markings (as the one in the first picture), while the male is particularly crisply colored in the breeding season, his bill bright red and bearing a prominent knob at the forehead.
Spotted on Jun 18, 2013
Submitted on Jul 31, 2013
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