Saw a strange duck yesterday...

[Ally Rose]

I have a job walking dogs for a friend and i always walk by the lake near their house. its the same lake where i was surprised to see a little female ruddy duck (who i still see every time). Yesterday, When I heading back from the walk, i saw a small white duck- like bird swimming with the swans. I though "oh, its a baby swan!" but i realized it couldn't be, baby swans don't look like that! I got a closer look and It looked a lot like an adolescent white muscovy duck. Well, the weird thing is, there are no wild muscovies in NJ. The duck let me get very close to it, unlike all of the other birds on the lake, I remember wild muscovies being like that when i visited Florida a few years ago. Can someone please tell me what this bird is? And if it is a muscovy? Sorry, i don't have any pics, all i had was my cell phone and it takes horrible pictures! If someone could post a pic of a muscovy that hasn't developed caruncles yet, maybe i could decide if it was a muscovy. THANKS!

 

[Amiga]

Could be an abandoned Muscovy.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Without a picture it's impossible to say for sure what bird you saw.

 

[Ally Rose]

Next time i walk the dogs i will bring a camera. Hopefulliy i will see it again!!

 

[Ally Rose]

Ok i got a good look at it today, and its definitely a muscovy. Its young so no caruncles yet and it still has some down feathers. It is about the size of a mallard. Here is what it kind of looked like except the gray on the head was barely noticeable and very faint
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iloverealestate/5883217276/

and this one is more accurate

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iloverealestate/5882617695/in/photostream/

look through the other pictures on that flickr page because lots of them look exactly like the duck i saw. they are native though-well kinda. i talked to the woman that i walk the dogs for and she said she has seen a few at another lake in the area. So i am very relieved but seeing how cute it was made me want muscovies!! I named "her" Scobie!! (it looks like a girl to me

)

 

[TV]

The first pic is a muscovy, the second looks
like a pekin maybe,or maybe young muscovy drake.

 

[Ally Rose]

their both muscovy. they look like that cuz they're young. i didn't take those pics i just used them to show what the duck looked like.