Interesting ducks at our local lakes

[wpalmisano]

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That is an awesome picture

 

[desertdarlene]

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Thanks! I wish it could have been better, but I thought I was lucky that I even caught that.

 

[desertdarlene]

I think I saw that small female today and she did have white speculum feathers, though I thought I saw a bit of blue, but not sure.

That photo got me thinking about another photo I took a month ago of a smaller than average duck that I was going to post here and ask if it was a kind of call duck. I think it's the same duck, but with white feathers. I'm sure that this one is a gadwall:

I had to lighten the shadows a bit otherwise her head would have been very dark.

 

[desertdarlene]

Chocolate is getting his colors! He's 4 months old now, I think about 18 weeks old. Here he is (I think this is him) with, I think, Flycatcher (or one of her sisters) who is almost three months old, and another "regular" mallard drake to the right.

He's a runner-mallard mix, heavy on the mallard:

And, this hybrid has a white belly like her silver Appleyard parent:

Here is Tom, the Muscovy, taking a swim. He came when I called, hoping for something to eat, which I didn't have anything, so he soft-hissed at me and went away:

 

[desertdarlene]

I thought this picture of Bigboi was pretty and showed off his green feathers. I thought he was a muscovy-mallard hybrid, but he's probably a cayuga-mallard hybrid. He has a deformed foot that I never knew about until recently. He's generally shy, but has gotten used to me enough to get out of the water when I'm around (he wouldn't do that for a loooong time):

I've never seen him interested in any female until Oreo, the black and white cayuga-runner duck arrived. He just loves her.

 

[Goat_Walker]

Very Pretty

 

[Miss Lydia]

Where is the picture of Oreo? You take awesome pictures. Is that what you do for a living? I love all of those pictures but Tom is my favorite.

 

[desertdarlene]

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Oreo is on the first page, she's the black and white duck. She's pictured with Big Daddy 2, one of the ducks she was dropped off with last year.

I would love to take pictures for a living, but right now, I can't afford the equipment to take the kind of photos that can earn me money. I mostly use them with my articles that I publish on my blog or through the Examiner.

Tom was actually beginning to molt in that photo, he looks even prettier now.