I can't speak with any authority on the subject but I have an antidotal story.
For the past 5 years, each spring a pair of Mallards visit my back yard pond and enjoy the cracked corn I've been giving them. The first year they came I noticed that the female was missing the web on one toe. After that I was convinced that the same pair were visiting me year after year. This year they arrived about a week ago and I noticed that the girls foot is normal. Of course I anthropomorphized that the male became widowed and now has remarried.

Linda Phillips feeding the ducks in Kenmore WA


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