Bufflehead x Hooded Merganser

Bufflehead x Hooded Merganser hybrid (right, with Bufflehead), Firestone Gravel Pits, Weld County (Colorado, USA), 2nd May 2017 - copyright Steve Mlodinow

(photo ID: 3218)

Steve notes that that there is a bit of a crest, which changes in shape over time as the bird assumes different attitudes.  The white on the head is also oriented more towards rear than top.  The bill and tail are longer than those of a Bufflehead, with the entire bird being a bit larger as well.

Bufflehead x Hooded Merganser hybrid (same bird as in photo ID 3218 above), Firestone Gravel Pits, Weld County (Colorado, USA), 2nd May 2017 - copyright Steve Mlodinow

(photo ID: 3219)

Bufflehead Bucephala albeola
Hooded Merganser Lophodytes cucullatus

Wood Duck x Bufflehead

captive Wood Duck x Bufflehead hybrid, Netherlands - copyright Joern Lehmhus

(illus. ID: 2437)

The photographer of this bird didn't know its parentage, but Joern points out:

"Wood duck traits are obvious and the other features indicate the second parent to be a short-billed white-flanked and pale- or white-breasted bird.  From bill and eye coloration a dark-eyed, grey-billed bird appears also likely.  All these features point to Bufflehead."

Wood Duck Aix sponsa
Bufflehead Bucephala albeola

Bufflehead x Common Goldeneye

Bufflehead x Common Goldeneye hybrid, Esquimalt Lagoon, Victoria, Vancouver Island (British Columbia, Canada), 2nd December 2009 - copyright Jim Craig

(photo ID: 2128)

What a smart bird!  And now who says hybrids are ugly?!  This one so superbly captured by Jim was among Bufflehead and Goldeneye wintering on the lagoon.

I have labelled all the birds on this page simply as Bufflehead x Common Goldeneye without any qualifier, which could be open to challenge.  I believe at least two of them were among Bufflehead and Common Goldeneye but the possibility that the Goldeneye parent was Barrow's is perhaps difficult to exclude with certainty.  Probably we need more experience of Bufflehead x Barrow's Goldeneye hybrids to be clear about the criteria for eliminating those.  I suspect that historically part of the rationale for identifying some such hybrids as involving Common Goldeneye rather than Barrow's was the head colour, Common Goldeneye having a green head sheen while Barrow's is more purple.  But we now know that head sheen colour in ducks is not necessarily helpful, for example Tufted Duck x Ring-necked Duck hybrids tend to show green head sheen despite both parent species normally looking purple.  Perhaps Barrow's hybrids might show other indications of different parentage in scapular pattern, head/bill shape, etc., but to me at least this is not yet clear.

Bufflehead x Common Goldeneye hybrid, Kelowna (British Columbia, Canada), 5th April 2016 - copyright Ian Walker

(photo IDs: 2780-2785)

Both presumed parent species were present with the next one below.  Matt tells us that it was slightly larger than the Bufflheads which is what it was mostly associating with.

Bufflehead x Common Goldeneye hybrid, El Campo, Tiburon (California, USA), 7th January 2014 - copyright Matt Brady

(photo IDs: 2121-2112)

Bufflehead Bucephala albeola
Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula