This Is our Village

Saturday, April 13, 2013

WANTED


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5 comments:

  1. UCO PresidentApril 13, 2013 at 11:07 AM

    Hi K\en,

    I have already offered this bird a free two hour vacation to my oven, set to 350 degrees

    Dave Israel

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lanny HoweApril 13, 2013 at 3:47 PM

    Beautiful photo, Ken. You sure know how to pick 'em. The duck is beautiful in her own right, but the foliage with its reds, greens and light brown makes this a superb shot. I'd love to be able to get this somehow to put on a homemade Christmas card for next December. At the least you should add this to your array of photos appearing on the Blog. Maybe have it on a color page of the Reporter, too?

    The duck is a female mallard, isn't it? Or is it by any chance a mottled duck? Often I can't tell the difference. The male mallard is easily identified by its bright yellow bill and metallic greenish head. I was going to say if I see this duck with a male mallard, I assume it's a female mallard, but I guess that isn't a foolproof means of identification, because my bird book says they are both in the mallard complex, they interbreed and the hybrid offspring are fertile.

    The mallard is found all over the US and in Canada, while the mottled is apparently found only in Florida and along the Gulf coast. Do you know which it is that is protected?

    Beware the Blogmeister's two-hour vacation in his oven, by the way. I remember only too well the stories of Hansel and Gretel, and the Walrus and the Carpenter and those poor little oysters.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UCO PresidentApril 13, 2013 at 4:07 PM

    Hi Lanny,

    You are, of course aware that hybrid breeding between a Mallard & a Black Duck, will result in the arcane Purple Headed duck!!!

    Dave Israel

    ReplyDelete
  4. elainebApril 13, 2013 at 6:30 PM

    What's that, 2 eggs, 30 days incubation. Where is the usual grassy down-lined nest with 5-14 eggs?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lanny HoweApril 13, 2013 at 8:19 PM

    I see one white oval egg and about 50 square white eggs, Elaine.

    I think now this is the female mallard. There's a large blackish patch on her bill, which is characteristic of the female mallard. This doesn't appear on the mottled duck's bill, which is olive yellow according to my bird book.

    The bird book says nothing about a purple hybrid. This information is apocryphal. "Consider the source," as they say-----

    ------unless, unless......the Purple could have something to do with those square eggs? Hmmmm. Could the Blogmeister possibly be right?

    ReplyDelete

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