Can you name this bird? I'll tell you next time. If you can't wait, hover over the photo or look down at the bottom.
You can find this duck hanging out about anywhere in North America. Or the world for that matter. Very common. Anywhere there are rivers and lakes. But not only there.
You’re just as likely to find them at the city park. But don’t expect them to be exactly the same. Next time you see people feeding ducks at the city pond, take a look. How many kinds do you see? Several probably. And nearly all of them came from the same species. This one
Their colors may have shifted around a bit. Or they’re splotchy or something. It’s because they’re hybrids. (See Bird-Call “Hybridization” 07/08/2019)
They’ve bred with other species or sub-species (there are more than 60 of them related closely enough to hybridize). And that includes most domestic ducks. Several thousand years ago in China they bred the famous Peking Duck for food. Then not too awful long ago someone imported a few of them here--a sort of Peking Duck starter kit.
They thrived. Large and white, they’ve become our common farm ducks. Of course once in a while they fly the coop. Jailbreak! But soon find they’re ill-suited for life on the lamb. So they plunk down in a city park pond somewhere looking for a handout.
They may find, however, they’re not the only freeloaders there. A few wild ducks may have already developed a taste for Cheese Doritos. So they all find themselves sharing one little pond. Over time, the wild ones get tamer.The tamer ones get wilder. And romance blossoms. And next thing you know there are little forever-mixed-up ducklings running around the park.
What they will look like when grown is anybody’s guess. And you often can’t tell the species that hybridized.
This female does not appear to be a hybrid.
So if you listened, you'd hear her trademark ”Quack!”
Males of this species give a quieter raspy call.
And as for the white “farm ducks,” seen at city pond? Well as everyone knows this familiar duck will deliver its famous:
“AFLAC!”
