Just another word about those spectacular ducks that we have been
discussing. The ones that Rachel Lawson saw near Everett had black bills
and legs. The one I photographed in Stanley Park had a bright yellow bill,
don't know about the leg color. Marilyn Miller of Victoria saw one with
"female-Mallard bill" (presumably orange and black) that quacked (which
only females do), so maybe the females look like the males. As Michael
Price wrote, these are really classy ducks, and it will be interesting to
see where they turn up. Are they breeding successfully? Do they
interbreed with regular Mallards? Will the gorgeous plumage of these
newcomers sweep all the regular Mallards off their webbed feet, so green
genes will predominate in the future? We can follow this situation, which
is happening in nature even though it's a humanmade breed (would the term
"artificial bird" be appropriate?).

I can't believe we're having this much discussion about a domestic bird
(which--I'll have to admit--are pretty far down on my list of interests),
but I guess it shows how sophisticated and tolerant we are as a group!

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416