# Hen Blue Bill ?



## dead short (Sep 15, 2009)

I'd be surprised if 15% of the waterfowl hunters out there actually could identify a bird, especially a diver, in the air. Way too many (probably better than half) still can't consistently identify them in hand. Sorry to be blunt, but it's true. 

We talked to a group the other day that was calling a widgeon a teal. Biggest miss ID is usually a ringneck. A lot of hunters could extend their day if they could differentiate a ringneck from a scaup. 


Posted from my iPhone.


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## Shlwego (Sep 13, 2006)

The first duck of the day can be any duck. As long as you're sure it's a "duck." After that you may have to be more careful. Identifying hen divers is really tricky, especially when they're flying in mixed flocks. It's something I still struggle with after many years of hunting. I don't typically see a lot of divers where I hunt, and when I do I usually don't have to worry about getting too many of them....:evilsmile


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## William H Bonney (Jan 14, 2003)

dead short said:


> I'd be surprised if 15% of the waterfowl hunters out there actually could identify a bird, especially a diver, in the air. Way too many (probably better than half) still can't consistently identify them in hand. Sorry to be blunt, but it's true.
> 
> We talked to a group the other day that was calling a widgeon a teal. Biggest miss ID is usually a ringneck. A lot of hunters could extend their day if they could differentiate a ringneck from a scaup.
> 
> ...


A few years back after the morning hunt, we pull up the launch and ****-chat with the groups already there. I ask the one guy if they did any good,, he says,, "_yeah, we did ok, a few redheads, bluebills (in an area void of red's or bills for 25 yrs.),,, and one realllllly weeirrrrrrrrd lookin' wood duck"..._

After taking a peek in their boat,,, they had 3 ringnecks, 2 common mergansers and one perrrrfeccctly normal hooded merganser...:lol:

I literally BUSTED out laughing!!! After I explained what species of ducks they really had..... The guys says to his buddy,,,,_ "seeeeeee,,, I told you"..._ :lol:


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## Duckman Racing (Oct 11, 2004)

duckkillerclyde said:


> you guys are all quick to jump on the guy who says ID the bird before you shoot it.
> 
> What happened to know your target and beyond?


Interesting thought from a guy who posted a picture of a duck that couldn't be identified even _after _it was in hand...


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## Big Honkers (Dec 20, 2008)

MidnightSun, congrats on the 'bill and Im glad you posted the pic so the MS community could help you out.


I bet clyde was a paste eater in elementary school.



On a different note....anyone care to give the over/under on the number of "what duck is this/grebe pic" type of posts we'll see this year?


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## William H Bonney (Jan 14, 2003)

Big Honkers said:


> On a different note....anyone care to give the over/under on the number of "what duck is this/grebe pic" type of posts we'll see this year?


One


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## duckkillerclyde (Oct 5, 2011)

Duckman Racing said:


> Interesting thought from a guy who posted a picture of a duck that couldn't be identified even _after _it was in hand...



I didn't shoot it and it's a hen ring


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## dinoday (Feb 22, 2004)

It's a legal bird, the guy asked a simple question and got a few simple answers...then some crap.
Nice bird, now you know


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## duckkillerclyde (Oct 5, 2011)

dinoday said:


> It's a legal bird, the guy asked a simple question and got a few simple answers...then some crap.
> Nice bird, now you know


Trouble with you is
The trouble with me
Got two good eyes
but we still don't see
Come round the bend
You know it's the end
The fireman screams and
The engine just gleams

Drivin' that train
High on cocaine
Casey Jones you better
watch your speed
Trouble ahead
Trouble behind
and you know that notion
just crossed my mind


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## dead short (Sep 15, 2009)

Probably too late, but if you still have the carcass spread out the wing and get a good picture of it. 


Posted from my iPhone.


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## duckkillerclyde (Oct 5, 2011)

dead short said:


> Probably too late, but if you still have the carcass spread out the wing and get a good picture of it.
> 
> 
> Posted from my iPhone.


we already ate the bird and gave the feathers to some local Indians to make head bands out of them.


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## lab1 (Aug 31, 2004)

duckkillerclyde said:


> I didn't shoot it and it's a hen ring


I am thinking hen ringer too, but cant really see the bill.


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## D-Fresh (Feb 8, 2005)

That duck is 100% hen bluebill.

Bluebill:









Ringer:










For a pro like yourself, Clyde, who claims everyone should be able to ID on the wing....shame on you.


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## MidnightSun (May 8, 2009)

D-Fresh said:


> That duck is 100% hen bluebill.
> 
> Bluebill:
> 
> ...


After looking at the pic posted above it has to be the bill cause it had yellow eyes so it's not a ringer. Thanks again all.


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## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

DEDGOOSE said:


> These threads are all fun and games until somebody posts up a helldiver:lol:


its a hen bluebill, i can't believe some of the answers that fly on here and people don't even think twice before back checking it themselves...not hard to google image a breed of duck and compare.

and dedgoose. i fully expected to see a helldiver when i opened this thead...i was disappointed. lol.


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## laterilus (Mar 18, 2006)

MidnightSun said:


> Thanks ya'll I am getting better at this!


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## laterilus (Mar 18, 2006)

MidnightSun said:


> Thanks ya'll I am getting better at this! .


 In a few weeks and if the weather cooperates there will be plenty to shoot .....


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## MidnightSun (May 8, 2009)

laterilus said:


> In a few weeks and if the weather cooperates there will be plenty to shoot ...?


I just made a purchase offer on a house there..... 

I have permission to hunt some lake shore ...


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## duckkillerclyde (Oct 5, 2011)

D-Fresh said:


> That duck is 100% hen bluebill.
> 
> Bluebill:
> 
> ...


I was referring to the duckling that I posted in another thread. here is the bird I was talking about. It is a hen ring neck. sorry you have problems reading


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## D-Fresh (Feb 8, 2005)

duckkillerclyde said:


> I was referring to the duckling that I posted in another thread. here is the bird I was talking about. It is a hen ring neck. sorry you have problems reading


Forgive me, I thought you were talking about the bird posted in this thread. How silly of me not to realize you were talking about a picture that wasn't in this thread.


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## duckkillerclyde (Oct 5, 2011)

D-Fresh said:


> Forgive me, I thought you were talking about the bird posted in this thread. How silly of me not to realize you were talking about a picture that wasn't in this thread.


then you should read all the posts not just the first one. 

I forgive you.


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## OLLIE719 (Feb 14, 2009)

duckkillerclyde said:


> then you should read all the posts not just the first one.
> 
> I forgive you.


Ive read alot of your post.Im just trying to figure out how one can be so good that you never sail a bird and never miss ID one, and I am sure you didnt shoot that bird.


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## gunsnrods (Jun 8, 2009)

Originally Posted by OLLIE719


> Ive read alot of your post.Im just trying to figure out how one can be so good that you never sail a bird and never miss ID one, and I am sure you didnt shoot that bird.


 bahaha

on a side note guys a friend and myself had a great time today shootin a mixe bag of 9 ducks and 2 geese taday! 2 shovelers, 2gwt, 1bwt, 1wigeon, n 3 mallards. shot a few shells and the dog made some great retrieves as well as got a novice dog some good experience


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## OLLIE719 (Feb 14, 2009)

All in good fun congrats on the good shoot.


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## duckkillerclyde (Oct 5, 2011)

OLLIE719 said:


> Ive read alot of your post.Im just trying to figure out how one can be so good that you never sail a bird and never miss ID one, and I am sure you didnt shoot that bird.


I never sail a bird because I shoot to kill. miss ID a bird? only time that it is a question is when it is a hen ring or a hen scaup in the air, not in my hand. I can also identify all 7 subspecies of Canada geese that winter in Oregon. 


Maybe the Oregon waterfowl ID test is harder than it is in your area.

Not trying to pick a fight or upset anyone.


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

Since this one could not fly, it was probably easy to id as it swam by:


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## duckkillerclyde (Oct 5, 2011)

TSS Caddis said:


> Since this one could not fly, it was probably easy to id as it swam by:


again, I didn't shoot this one.


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## Quack Addict (Aug 10, 2006)

duckkillerclyde said:


> I never sail a bird because I shoot to kill.


Yeah, me too. 


:lol:


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## Branta (Feb 6, 2002)

There's distasteful...

then there's shooting this.

not even sure what to say since _legally_ there's nothing wrong with shooting a juve and there's nothing against waterswatting, but that's a bit much... or is it just me?!

debating if it shoudl be deleted or kept up for a greater good.


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## lastflighttaxidermy (Jul 12, 2010)

i dont know. personally would never consider shooting a baby duck that couldnt fly or id for that matter. yes its legal i guess since it is season but i gotta say "come on, Really!" not for me anyway.


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## Quack Addict (Aug 10, 2006)

lastflighttaxidermy said:


> i dont know. personally would never consider shooting a baby duck that couldnt fly or id for that matter. yes its legal i guess since it is season but i gotta say "come on, Really!" not for me anyway.


 
Easy guys... he said he didn't shoot it. 

Then again, he didn't say he told the guy that did not to... or whether he whacked the guy over the head after he pulled the trigger.


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## BangBangBang (Mar 30, 2011)

Duckman Racing said:


> Interesting thought from a guy who posted a picture of a duck that couldn't be identified even _after _it was in hand...


Yea, no crap...people like clyde are worse than Foiles!


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## michiganoutdoorsman (Dec 29, 2010)

D-Fresh said:


> Forgive me, I thought you were talking about the bird posted in this thread. How silly of me not to realize you were talking about a picture that wasn't in this thread.


:lol::lol::lol::lol:


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## mad4mallards (Dec 31, 2009)

Who needs comedy central when i can read clyde's posts:lol:. There is no way that it someone could have seriously shot that duck. If they did their just as bad as Foiles. I don't know what I feel worse about the duckling or everyone on this forum that has to be enlightend with clyde's obviousley supperior waterfowling knowledge:lol:.


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## Tavor (Sep 10, 2011)

I cant pass this thread up. Midnight Sun, the bird you shot is indeed a hen bluebill, a beautiful hen greater scaup to be more precise. The reason Im posting though is to offer a few pointers on how to identify bluebills in general and hens in particular. Of all the ducks that fly in the Mississippi flyway the hen bluebill is the easiest to identify on the wing, but not for any of the reasons mentioned by the responders to your post, unless I missed it. Eye color, bill color, stripe-on-bill, etc. are okay when the bird is in hand, but in flight youd be better off looking for something bigger and more apparent. With bluebills, its the white wing stripe. Look at your picture. Look at the trailing edge of the wing. That white stripe on the trailing edge of the wing just screams bluebill. It shows up like a neon sign. I often hunt with a sneak boat, and even anchored two hundred yards upwind we can often identify bluebills without binoculars when they circle the rig. On lesser scaup, the white stripe ends at the joint of the wing while on a greater, such as yours, the white extends way out into the tip of the wing. The extended white is easily visible in your picture, showing up as a white triangle pointing up in the picture. Then theres the white face patch. Other ducks sometimes have a whitish face patch, such as a hen readhead, but none Im aware of has such a contrast between that facepatch and the much darker coloration of the rest of the head. When layout hunting, the hens facepatches are usually the first thing Ill notice on incoming bluebills. Again, it just screams hen bluebill. Then, when they turn broadside, the combination of the high-contrast white facepatch and the high-contrast white wing stripe are just unmistakable. I might recommend that you go to youtube and search for videos using keywords like bluebill hunting or diver duck hunting and watch bluebills circling and coming into decoy rigs. I suspect, once you start looking for it, it will begin leaping out at you when they swoop into a rig. Remember, its the high contrast between the white and the adjacent feathers which make it unique to bluebills. Most ducks have a light stripe on the trailing edge of their wing, but the bluebills stripe looks like white against black, not light gray next to darker gray. Back when I first started layout hunting (mid 70s), canvasbacks and redheads were fully protected in Michigan, or at least on Lake St. Clair. Look for the white on the wing was the one dependable method that was taught to beginners for ensuring we didnt shoot reds or cans. If we didnt see the white stripe, we didnt shoot. Period. It only had a couple of downsides: Now and then wed shoot a merganser or a white-wing scoter, but thats not the end of the world and it was perfectly legal. It also meant we passed up shots on ringers, but we never really see too many of those on the open water where I hunt. Personally, Ive shot more ringnecks in the marsh than in open water, by a wide margin. Look for the white stripe and you will never mistake a ringer for a bluebill. Actually, a hen ringneck in flight can be much more easily mistaken for a hen redhead than anything else. Anyway, congrats on a nice looking bluebill, and I hope the above leads to an even greater enjoyment of your hunting.


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## stacemo (Oct 23, 2003)

Great first post! Check this one out. I think the fourth from the left may have been improperly labeled a ringneck in the original post. It is a bluebill. It looks like a greater as well. From the v notches in the tail feathers you can see it is a juvy. I say it is a male even though it has the white patch. I say this because of the darker head and I think I see white coming out on the back. What do you think?


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## Tavor (Sep 10, 2011)

stacemo,
Certainly a bluebill. I'd call it a hen, just because of the face patch. Hens certainly have dark heads, and a little white "salt and pepper" feathering is pretty normal on their backs, I think. Then again, I'm no ornithologist.


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