Another Manky Mallard

I don't think I've ever seen an orange-tailed mallard before. But here is one:

Mallard male, more or less normal: greenish-yellow beak, blue-green head, lighter collar, purplish-blue speculum (next photo), black rear end. But orange tail feathers? And where are the curly tail coverts?

The edges of the tail match the orange feet. It's not a glitch in the camera's reading of colour.

A few of the other male mallards in this flock had a slight orangey tinge to their tails, but not to this extent. I've been wondering what combination of parent birds would result in this "Manky Mallard".

Pie filling wigeons and school-teacher mallards

It happens every time; we start out to visit Reifel Island Bird Sanctuary, then dawdle on the way, stopping at every eagle tree and bit of swamp. We slow to a crawl for herons in ditches, snow geese 'way across the fields, hawks in pursuit of a meal.

Eventually, we get there.

We were greeted at the gate by the customary mallard free-loaders; this time, several yellow-headed wigeons were with them.

Yes, yellow. Sunny, lemony yellow.

There were several with bright yellow heads and faces (not canary yellow, a bit muted, more like sunlight on old gold); others had a variety of shades, from pale butter up to lemon pie filling yellows. The heads were thin, flattened like a fish head; they bulged to a possible crest at the back. We had never seen any like this before. They don't match the American wigeon, nor the Eurasian (a dark brown head); the winter plumage of the American may be pale, but not yellow. I did find one photo with a golden head, but in full summer colour, and with a nicely rounded head.

This is what we expect in a winter wigeon.

We spent more time with the mallards than we usually do, trying to get at least one decent, unblurry, unobstructed photo of a yellow-head. Not a simple feat, in that mad scramble for handouts! When a toddler arrived to feed the ducks, father and bag of bird seed in tow, we moved on. We'll try another day.

Along the paths, we met fewer wigeons, more mallards. They came running or swimming (making great Vs in the water) if I so much as rustled the paper of the seed bag.

Faithful followers. And Laurie.

Mallard pair. She is a very pale variant. Hybrid, maybe?

Standard-issue male mallard. Green head, blue speculum, orange feet, yellow bill, white neck ring. But check out the mottled bib. Not the usual.

Joined by another "normal" male. With a spinning head and a brown neck scarf. What is he doing?

In one of the pools, this duck was paddling alone.

Unidentified black and white.

I can't find this one in the books. White bib, dark brown body and wings, a puff of white at the back of the head, yellow mottled beak, and a white streak behind the eye. No blue speculum, but the white edging that usually borders the blue is still there*.

It's probably another of the many mallard hybrids and "Manky Mallards". (Pure mallard, but weird; crested mallards? Mallards with 1950s schoolteacherish buns? A purple-headed mallard? Really, really purple? That's weird.) I've checked those out, too; Charlie at 10,000 Birds has a good selection, with explanations. Here's one that's similar to ours; a "Manky", "Swedish-type" mallard.

What do you think?

*I thought the absence of a blue speculum meant that it couldn't be a mallard, but it seems that mallards obey no rules.
  

Rainy day on Cougar Creek

It looked like rain. But maybe there was time for a quick walk around Cougar Creek Park before it started.

There wasn't. We walked around the lake, anyhow, shielding our cameras inside our jackets. We need shoulder-strapped umbrellas.

First drops of rain.

Good mushrooming weather. These shaggy manes were right beside the path.

The others weren't so easy to identify:

Small purple balls, barely an inch across.

Deep vases, mostly full of rainwater.

The bushes and trees, dark and dripping, were full of birds. We saw a pair of wrens, flickers, a cute little downy woodpecker, besides the usual robins, crows, sparrows and mallards.

And this:

I know it's blurry; that's the best we could do. Here's the story:

Under the trees at the first bridge over Cougar Creek, there was a great commotion of splashing. A few mallards were diving for leaves. Yes, they were mallards. Green heads on the males, drab females, blue speculum on all. But they were diving, not just up-ending to reach for the bottom. They weren't too good at it, hence the splashing.

We watched as repeatedly they went down, well underwater, selected a sunken leaf, brought it to the surface and abandoned it. Laurie says they were playing, not feeding.

One, the one in the photo, was different. A hybrid. Long neck, like a grebe's, drab brown, with speckles of grey and green on the head, ring around the neck, and the blue speculum. This one was a good diver; it went down and disappeared, coming up some time later, and a good distance away. Still splashed more than most diving ducks do, though.

After a while, another small flock of mallards swam down the creek and joined the divers. These ones dabbled, like puddle ducks are supposed to.

Questions: is the good diver a grebe/mallard hybrid? And did he teach his brood-mates the game?

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Ducks with almost human eyes

Three ducks seen yesterday at Ladner Harbour Park:


As far as we can figure out, they're mallard hybrids. Mallard crossed with what, I don't know. The eyes remind me of the female wood duck's. (Look at the photos full-size.)

Showing off their white bibs with spotty edges.

We've had four very busy days, and another starting a few hours from now. After that, once I've rested up a bit, I'll have a load of photos to show you; birds, beasties, 'shrooms, and places.

For now, goodnight!

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