I took the wild duckling that I had been caring for - for the last three weeks 300 miles to Anchorage, AK to the Bird Rescue Center. They told me to bring him up and they'd check him out, make sure he could find his own food, wait until he was big enough and release him. I thought I'd drop him as soon as I got into town. Well.... after the two vets examined him... they informed me that he was not a wild duck but a domestic mallard. They said he had very small wings for his size and he would never fly. Of course they couldn't take him, so he spent a couple nights in the big city with me and then we drove the 300 miles home. I did have some doctor appointments and shopping to do... so he wasn't the only reason I went to Anchorage. He was a very good traveler. So we are back home now, and I am puzzled and want to find out how he ended up inside the airport. I called the airlines that comes into Valdez.. to see if they had any duckling shipments and they said no. I might put an add in the paper to see if he belongs to anyone. If not, I will have 6 Indian Runners and one little Mallard.. He is very cute and chirped... his sweet little chirp off and on... and made the trip very pleasant. : )
Are there some Mallards that don't fly? I was reading the post about Mallards flying away and as I wrote above the vets said this bird was a Mallard, but would never fly. I am just confused.
Mallards fly. Rouens (they look like huge mallards) don't. Unless the mallard you have is either deficient as a wild one , you probably came across someone's "pet" that they no longer wanted. Congrats on being a mallard owner! You won't regret it!
Hatchery bred mallards several generations removed from the wild tend to lose the streamlined conformation of the wild birds. They become bulkier and less adept at flying. They can still fly- only not as well as wild bred birds.
What I don't understand is where this one came from. I live in a small town in Alaska. There are only two or three people in town who have ducks, me being one of them. This little guy was found out at the airport which is a couple of miles out of town. There is a trailer court about 1/2 mile from the airport, but no one else lives in that area. It is sure a puzzle where he came from.
