New to this forum, curious about ducks and a question

[desertdarlene]

I was thinking I should show some pictures of the cute runner ducks at the smaller lake I go to. I went there today to play with the geese, so I wasn't looking for them. But, I did photograph them a few days ago.


Here is a gray and white runner with (I think) his mallard hybrid friend:

And, here's a cute white runner:

Check out the young mallard on the lower-right. He looks like he's posing.

 

[chikky]

Nice pictures! I wonder if the mallards with the injured legs had a run-in with a turtle? Don't know much about turtle injuries, but sounds like they're common with pond ducks.

 

[desertdarlene]

Quote:
It's possible as there are turtles there (and, turtles are sometimes the cause of "missing" ducklings, too). But the one in the photo with the injured leg is at a very large lake that allows onshore fishing. A lot of people leave fishing line all over the place. I don't know if it's the duck in the photo, but at least one adult mallard had fishing wire around his leg for months before he was caught and it was removed. Unfortunately, by then, the leg was already too damaged and I think it will take a while to heal if it heals up at all.

When I'm there, I pick up as much fishing line as I can find.

 

[desertdarlene]

I got confirmation that the duck in the first photo of this discussion is definitely a different duck than the older injured duck I already knew about. The older duck, called Sir Francis Drake, was seen in his usual spot today. Sir Francis is a three year old who is now in eclipse. I was told that the fishing line (I call it wire, but it's fishing line or fishing wire) was wrapped around his left leg for almost a year before he was caught and it was removed. He looks much, much better and a lot happier, but it appears that there may be permanent damage to his foot. However, he is getting around a lot better and you don't notice the problem unless he gets out of the water.

Here is a photo of him: