ID help please.........duck

[Deb London]

Hooded Merganser is what I came up with but I cannot understand why this duck has a golden-coloured eye. Hoping it's a first winter male or something.

[Shrike]

Originally Posted by Deb London

Hooded Merganser is what I came up with but I cannot understand why this duck has a golden-coloured eye. Hoping it's a first winter male or something.

If its a fence hopper i guess theres a chance there is something else mixed in with it.

[Deb London]

Ahh, of course, thanks Terry.

[RobinV]

Yes, its definatley a 1st winter male Hooded Merganser.
The reason for the golden eye is the fact its a male, the female lacks the golden eye.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Shrike

If its a fence hopper i guess theres a chance there is something else mixed in with it.

It's a pure bird + as said a 1st winter male.

[Robert S J Smith]

FWIW there are 5 accepted records of Hooded Merganser in Britain and 3 in Ireland.

Wonder if it's the female that was on the pager last night in Kent?

[Hornbeam Hedge]

Thanks everybody for the ID help and very interesting discussion.

The context is that it was taken in July 2010 in Derbyshire (I was going through my holiday photos). My guess is that it is some form of 'fence jumper' as folks have suggested - it was in a strange location, a small lake/large pond in a run down ex-industrial area and there were also a couple of Black Swans there - adding to the feel of a collection, or escapees.