These photos were taken at the Albuquerque Zoo's duck pond last weekend. The pond has some exotic waterfowl, which are all banded. It also has quite a few wild ducks that make the pond their home either seasonally or year-round. The Carolina Wood Duck was listed as a wild year-round resident.
#1 - Between the sketches at the pond and my Sibley guild, I've identified this one as a Carolina Wood Duck (male, still in breeding plumage).
#2 - I think this one is also a Male Carolina Wood duck that has starting the transition to non-breeding plumage. Am I correct on this identification?
#3 - Male Carolina Wood Duck in non-breeding plumage -- Yes/No?
#4 -- Just a guess here. Female Carolina Wood Duck -- Yes/No?
#5 - When it comes to Female Mallards, Mexican Ducks and Mottled Ducks I'm never quite sure about my identification. Any idea which one this duck is? Also, does anyone have any good tips/tricks to help distinguish between these three ducks?
This message was edited Aug 24, 2009 9:26 PM
##1-4 - yep, correct on all.
#5 - hmmm. Trouble is, no-one knows how to distinguish these, least of all the ducks themselves . . . hybridisation is rife. Note the comment in Sibley "Virtually no pure Mexican Mallards occur in North America". The brownish patch on the bill identifies it as a female. Outside of a breeding plumage drake, I'd guess it is best left as just Mallard in the broad sense. As the face is not plain pale orangey, I'd say probably not pure Mottled, though.
Resin
Thanks Resin! I'm relieved to know that that I'm not the only one who has trouble distinguishing between the ducks.
Remember reading somewhere that female Mexican, Mottled and Black Ducks actually prefer to mate with drake Mallards - not really surprising as they look so much nicer. But when that sort of thing happens, what chance do we have to sort out what is what!!
Resin
