We were at Rock Harbor yesterday photographing some of the seabirds that frequent the area. When I took this photograph, I thought it was a Bufflehead… until I enlarged it on by camera. Hmmm… it did not have the markings of a Bufflehead, and why was its eye golden when Buffleheads have black eyes?

Phil and I thought maybe it was a hybrid between a Bufflehead and a Golden Eye, but we didn’t know if birds could be hybrids. We were driving by The Bird Watcher’s General Store later in the afternoon, so I stopped in to ask Mike, the owner, what it was. I was sure that I had a new species! He said it was a hybrid and has been spotted at Rock Harbor for the past 3 winters. Mystery solved…

Pretty cool, don’t you think? Have you seen it at Rock Harbor?