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This is a third winter bird, mostly adult plumage. There's some dark spotting on the tail, a little brown in the wings, and the gonydeal mark is black instead of red, as in the adult winter bird above. The bill shape is right for Thayer's, as is the dark eye, mantle color (between Herring and California), and the dark pink leg color. The rounded head is also right for Thayer's. As Mike Mammoser pointed out to me, the clincher is the barely visible underside of the primaries, which are much paler than the upperside, in the distinctive Thayer's pattern. |
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