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Mallard Duck

Anas platyrhynchos

Photo by TammiElisa
Published on Project Noah
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33.5315, -82.0734

Field Notes

Description:

The black duck here seems to be an unusual looking female. She does not quack and instead makes a low cooing sound. She also gorges on the algae in the lake. Is she not a mallard? I know they have been known to interbreed with other duck species.

Habitat:

These ducks live in a small lake surrounded by a development of town houses. There are a total of seven ducks in the lake.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (3)
TammiElisa
Wow, thanks for the replies. Very interesting!
The Mishka
My guess would be a female mallard that has something called Abberant Plumage. Abberant plumage is mainly diveded in to three groups.... Albinism, Leucism and Melanism. In this case I believe that this duck has Melanism in combination with Partial Albinism. I know that Mallards hybrid with Black ducks... and my guess it either one of those because of the Speculum feathers. If I am right.... This is Very Uncommon and you're lucky to have seen this first hand! Thank you for this Amazing post!
ceherzog
I can't find anything that looks like that black & white duck...I know they hybridize but that seems too strange.

Spotted for Missions

Mission
WILD Cities: Urban Biodiversity
Photographed
PublishedMay 7, 2011

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