Ducks

[bunn]

 I was puzzled by the identity of these ducks today.  The one with the red face is male, and he is the sort of large, spectacularly ugly duck I often see hanging about on the slip at Calstock.  I had assumed that these were domesticated ducks, although I have had a look at the Websites of Duck Identification with no success.

However, his mate, the slim dark duck that swims low in the water and has a sheen of green on her black feathers,  looks nothing like him.   I would have thought she was a wild duck if the male duck had not attracted my attention through the medium of spectacularly loud and disturbingly violent Duck Sex.   If the chicks take after their father, I foresee a raft of ugly ducklings ahead.

Comments

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

Some species of wild birds are also highly variable. I think red-tailed hawk variations took up two solid pages in Sibley's.