Gadwalls at Oita River

From the same visit to Oita River on Monday. A flock of about 8-10 birds was seen joining the smaller Common Teals and Mallards feeding in a small canal which connects to the main river. Gadwalls (Anas streoera) are not really common around here and it's the first time for me to see the species in Oita. I noticed that almost every individual has some kind of special marks which, very funny, makes them so easy to tell apart which is which. All of the birds seemed to be quite wary at first, but once I've been sitting very very still for a moment, they came back to the feeding area and made it very easy to take photos.

Here's the place where I photographed all the ducks.

This one is the "Mole" since it has some kind of beauty mark-like spot on its right cheek.

This one is the "Brown Head" since it distinctly has browner head than the others.

And I called this one the "normal" though I later noticed that its undertail covert isn't so normal.

And the females...this one I called her "Yellow" because she is much yellower than the other females.

This one is the "Ugly". I think it might not be a female, but an eclipse male indeed since there's some male-like feathers growing on its hindneck. I found that I have very few photos of this one comparing to the others, may be just simply because it is ugly lol.

And this one is the "Black Wing" since as you can see it has distinct slaty-black coverts.

Hmm...but it also has some chestnut on its inner coverts too, or is it an eclipse male?

And this is the way they feed.

With the tiny Common Teal in the background

The photos would've been much better without those ugly rocks.

The "normal" and the "yellow"

I really love the light on that day. It was grey and rainy on the day before, then all the clouds just disappeared in the next morning and guess what, it began to rain again just after I got back home.