Search and you shall receive - half ?

After noticing a large influx in Goldeneye the last 2 weeks while working in Eastern Ontario, I set about to find myself a Barrow's Goldeneye (still needed for the year, as I sit at 299)... It's not like I ever wasn't looking for Barrow's Goldeneye, but I started a conscious effort to search every single flock of Goldeneyes I found, regardless of what I was (or should have been) doing.

And wouldn't you know it, but I had a pretty remarkable sighting before too long. A striking adult male Barrow's X Common Goldeneye Hybrid. Not exactly what I needed for the "list" - but I was still darn excited to see the bird. It was actively diving in a flock of ~80 birds, not very far away, but rarely staying up for long.

It was one of those birds that looked more like a Barrow's than a Common, and got my heart pumping early. It wasn't too long before I noticed that things were quite intermediate, including an intermediate white patch on the face (round with crescent shaped points on the corners), and a side pattern that really wasn't right for either species.

Unfortunately, no photos as it was hard enough finding the bird in between its rapid dives, but a very exciting sighting for me regardless! And now I can say im at 299.5 for the year, right?

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Some links to hybrids:

this first bird, (on the left with a Pure Barrow's) is somewhat similar to the bird I encountered:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5045/5326775930_1a8643cbc5.jpg

(The) one from Hamilton:

http://www.hamiltonnature.org/birds/images/GoldeneyeX.jpg

more


http://www.birds-of-north-america.net/images/common-goldeneye-x-barrow-s-goldeneye-2.jpg

and one more

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSW9yeHDmsbVrcItXwYdm4gmiXx7bWVcTn-yft9yn4aqZmg9AeNj_WyUkHxYw