I can hear it now--the deafening roar of the stampede of birders headed out to ogle an apparent Mallard hybrid...
*crickets*
The rest of the story:
Late this afternoon, Friday, Dec. 28th, Hannah and Andrew and I studied at great length and at close range an apparent hybrid American Black Duck x Mallard along Boulder Creek, immediately downstream from (east of) the bridge that links White Rocks (to the north) and Teller Farms (to the south).
What we saw:
"female plumage" overall (no ruddy suffusion on breast, uppertail coverts uncurled and concolor with body, etc.)
uniform yellow bill, a hair duller than the yellow on the bill of nearby Mallards
fairly bright/light purplish speculum, with little or no white fringing
bland dusky face with thin dark supercilium and thin dark cap; facial features not very well defined
prominent gray scapulars, basically identical to those of nearby Mallards
rectrices notably paler than ground color of body
As to the sex of the bird, I'm not positive. Based on the preceding, I'd say female. Plus, the bird copulated with a male Mallard. But Mallards are, hmm, well, this is a PG listserv... So I'm just not sure; and, at one point, I thought I glimpsed some green flecking behind the eye, but, despite extensive trying, I was unable to reproduce that result. (Now this may sound weird, but how would you distinguish a female American Black Duck x Mallard from a male Mottled Duck x Mallard?)
If anybody wants to try for the bird, I'm guessing it will be hanging out there by the bridge for a while. Bring your DNA kit, for sure.
Also at the bridge was a right-out-in-the-open Marsh Wren chippering away. And two dark "Western" Red-tailed Hawks, an adult Prairie Falcon, and several Bald Eagles.
Ted Floyd
tedfloyd57@hotmail.com
Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado
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