I was just wondering why some bluebills have greenish heads and some have purplish heads? I used to think it was a greater and lesser difference but after seeing photos of lessers with purplish and greenish and greaters with both colors,well then I was lost,I have also seen them with purple and green on the same duck.If anyone has an answer let me know, an answer will let me sleep at night...lol
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but it could be from different diets.Hair as with feathers are protien based.Put a raw egg in a dog's daily food and soon you will see his fur begin to shine.So this proves that protein has some effect on the quality of fur.When looking for fly tying feathers(hackles) from roosters look for them from birds three years or older.These feathers will have less webbing in them and will also shine better. It just might be that there is an age difference in these adult birds or one may have been feeding better than the other. It could also be a genetic trait like light brown or dark brown hair in people.Life has some mysteries that will never be solved. Good night...JL
Irridescence in colors makes many appear different in different light, but there are 3 ducks referred to as "bluebills" around here simply because people can't distinguish between them.
The colors on Scaup heads are normally Greater Scaup Green and lessor Scaup bluish purple. The refractive angle the light hits the feathers can cause a change in color from green to purple. Ringnecks usually look bluish black with a faint purple ring on the neck. Mallards can sometimes look bluish purple on their heads, but not to the degree of Scaup.
I shoot a lot of bluebills "scaup" here on the Mississippi River and I can tell by there primiries wich are greater and which are lesser and find both do have the same color of phases either purple or green. thanks for any input but maybe it is a mystery of nature
Bluebills is a short name for the Lesser Scaup. The are two types of Scaup. Lesser Scaup which has your purplish head and the Greater Scaup which has your green head. You can still call both of them bluebills, but the Greater scaup with the green head is a lot harder to come by than the Lesser Scaup. Atleast on the east coast anyway.