Hello,
I took a look at the pictures. And they also look like domestic and mixed ducks to me also. The mixed one can be very pretty.

Sunil asked how you can tell if the duck is female - with the domestic hybrids, the males have curly tail feathers at the ends of their tails. The females do not. This is true about lots of different kinds of ducks, including wild ones.

I used to have a link on my computer to a web site that identified domestic ducks, and had them for sale. Sorry, I no longer have that link and cannot refer you directly to it at this time. If you need help finding it, contact me off list (privately).

Betty
boyd6016 at msn.com -
Chimacum, Wa
----Original Message-----
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu]On Behalf Of Sunil Pandey
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2005 12:31 PM
To: Bryan Owens; siennahi at hotmail.com; tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: RE: Re: [Tweeters] Help Identify strange looking ducks sighted inJuanita Park today


Hi,



Even I saw a strange pair of ducks in Juanita Bay Park yesterday. One of them (male?) looked exactly like a Mallard male, except for a missing white ring around the throat. The duck accompanying him (a female?) was almost entirely black, I don't remember the colour of the bill. I am totally new to birding, are such variations common? I am not even sure if the second duck was female (how can you tell?) but the way they were moving together suggested they were probably a couple. Do Mallard females become black-ish during winter?



Also saw a Great Blue Heron, which was very surprising to me because I thought they would have migrated by now. Too bad I didn't have a camera with me.


Thanks,

Sunil Pandey

Bellevue, WA

sunil7us at hotmail.com




------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 09:09:40 -0700
From: obryan214 at yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Help Identify strange looking ducks sighted in Juanita Park today
To: siennahi at hotmail.com; tweeters at u.washington.edu
CC:


Hello,
They look like the domestic or hybrid ducks I see around. I think the breed is called the Rouen, I think I mispelled it.

Bryan Owens
Tacoma Wa.
obryan214 at yahoo.com

siennahi at hotmail.com wrote:
They sort of resemble the shape of a mallard but the color pattern is quite
different (splattered). They are quite far away so the photos are not of the
best quality but sufficient to identify them I hope. I have checked the Audubon
field guide and other books like Birds of Washington and Seattle Birds but I
could not find the right description that matches them.

Photos: http://schsu.blogspot.com

Could anyone advise?

Sienna
Redmond WA USA
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