Pintails, wigeons and black ducks

[Crazy_Farmer]

I havent seen a pintail in a few years and guess what, after the seasons been over a month they decided to move into the area. Nice long sprig on this guy.

http://members.shaw.ca/stevensml/hunting/feb8th.jpg

Also we get a ton of wigeon but they never seem to be in full colour yet, this guys chest was a nice brownish red and nice white strip on the head.

http://members.shaw.ca/stevensml/hunting/feb8th2.jpg


Its dam near impossible for true black ducks to be in the pacific flyway as they stick to the east coast, even in the prairies its very rare to even see one, but we've seen two mallards with either genetic glitches or hybrids, could be the same one but it was a month ago, the blue bill sure looks funny, and the head is black but in the sun and you can see a green tint to it so we're assuming its a drake too. My dad shot one a couple years back but its feet and bill were black, where as true blacks have red feet. More and more genetic freaks I guess.

http://members.shaw.ca/stevensml/hunting/feb8th3.jpg

[Schutzen]

I'm thinking its a melanistic Drake..oppo of albino.

[Crazy_Farmer]

I've been leaning towards that thought aswell, but wasnt too sure with that blue bill as I havent found many pictures of these ducks.

[Ian F.]

that's looks like an escaped call duck, some look just like mallards, others more like this. There is the odd black spotted out west and almost always they are escapes from aviaries.

We'll have to swap widgeon and pintails for cacklers come fall!

Ian

[porcupine]

Melanistic drake gets my vote. Used to live on the East Coast and shot a lot Black Ducks, and this is not one of them. But, all ducks taste good!
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[spock]

Good pics. Several years back I noticed a white duck, looked exactly like a white domestic Peking duck flying around with Mallards on Hatzic, lake a few years later I saw a couple of Mallards with white patches on them. Some wild duck must have bred with a domestic one. Since Hatzic lake isn't far from your place maybe that is the source of the weird genes. One other possibility is that it is a Mallard like species from Asia that migrated down the wrong coast. I've seen European Wigeon around Dewdney and Deroche several times but only in February/March never during the open season.

[Crazy_Farmer]

Yea, just this year I've heard of two different hunters shooting euro wigeons, within the same week or weekend I believe.

Who really knows with ducks range anymore, a guy in the mississippi flyway killed a pintail that was banded in Japan, nows thats alot of flying to do, so it can be done.

[Marc]

I've hunted a lot of years on the east coast and I'm pretty sure it's not a black duck. This guys is a male I took in PEI. He is also a mallard cross you can't see it in the picture but if you saw it up close you can see a bit of green in his head. Normally a black ducks bill is also olive green.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Black_duck.JPG

[WoodDuckWizard]

I see that Danny Clark's work is on the West Coast as well !!! As for thwe green tinge Not sure if it is Hybridization or just a really mature drake that shows off a bit of color... Since there doesn't appear to be any white on the wings IMHO

[HuntNHookSports]

While scouting for geese in Cow Bay, I have seen these ducks in the same spot for a week. Looks like your black duck.

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg179/HuntNHookSports/Mysteryduck.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg179/HuntNHookSports/MysteryDuck2.jpg

I used my 10X binos for a telephoto lens. I can't believe it worked.

[Crazy_Farmer]

Those look even wierder than mine. They've got a white patch in the neck as well as green in the wings and blue in the tail. I guess if you look at enough ducks you'll find the odd ones.

[duckslayer]

Marc the green on the head is common on mature drake blacks as is the yellow bill, it is the hen black duck that has the olive green bill, a hybrid black/mallard usually has white bordering the spectrum like a mallard, just my 2 cents
Slayer

[Marc]

Maybe he wasn't a hybrid then, he was a heavy bugger I know that.

[BoomBoom]

wow crazy...you've seen and shot some interesting stuff!!

...lots of weird x's in the duck population? in the Dewdney area!!....'suppose the family tree doesn't have too many branches over thar!!;):smile:

....boom...

[spock]

While we're on the subject of weird looking ducks, when I was a teenager at Bowen Island I saw and actually fed bred to a Mandarin Duck which is and asian relative of our wood duck, quite a colourful bird, supposedly only native to siberia, japan and china, just going along with my visitor from asia theory.

[Crazy_Farmer]

Thats why they are checking for the avian flu alot on up in alaska and russia while banding geese and ducks, if it does come over that'll be the first spot they hit before moving south, sure if a long flight though but they can do it.