what is this handsome devil?

[yomama]

I was going through some pictures and ran across this pic I took of a duck while I was down in Arizona. (It was a couple of years ago, before I came to BYC)It was at a public park, so it was wild. Any ideas on the breed? I love his/her hair- do. Are there any domesticated versions of this? I've seen the white ducks that look like Martha Washington with their big buffont(sp?) haird-os, but this guy just has a little.
Just curious
Thanks!!

 

[Born A Duck Lover]

I think he's just a mix. He's not wild, but rather more of a feral duck. Probably part-domestic and part-wild mallard. I know some breeds of ducks will occasionally pop out with a crest, but the majority of crested ducks are White Crested, like the kind you mentioned.

 

[goosedragon]

The crested mutation can happen naturally in just about any breed of duck, but looking at his breast and his neck makes me think he is a mix also.

 

[ejctm]

He IS a handsome devil!!

 

[chickmommar]

He does appear to be a mix but a crested black swedish would be very similar and you can often get them in the spring at the feed stores/breeders. This coloring on a mutt though is quite common so you should certainly be able to find similar handsome fellas from rescuers.

 

[yomama]

Thanks for all the info! I really like how he only has a little bit of fluff on his head. I'll have to keep my eyes open come spring and see if there are any around. BTW, are feral ducks, as oppossed to wild ducks, pretty common? I always figured their were just domesticated versions, and wild versions.

 

[drdoolittle]

He looks almost like my crested black swedish ducks. Of course the difference is that my ducks' bodies are black. A couple of mine have huge crests that look like afros!

 

[pardygwyn]

Quote:
It depends on how many people are dumping unwanted ducks in a given area - feral ducks are merely domestic ducks who've been abandoned or, more rarely, were born to previously abandoned ducks. Where I grew up, there was a lake full of feral ducks who lived off of bread thrown to them. The same sort of situation existed in a local park here in WA when I moved, but it's become very politically incorrect in the past decade or so, and the park has since eradicated them and drained the pond.