American Black Ducks

Here's another fairly common bird that I haven't shown in this blog [1], the American Black Duck. I met this pair last December. Though they're supposed to be here all year round, I tend to see them much more in the colder months: 45 pictures between October and April, 0 pictures between May and September.

When I see them during the winter I'll frequently see them either in pairs or amidst mixed flocks of waterfowl. (Squabbles over mates aside, most of our waterfowl seem to be on good terms with one another.) When I see them in pairs, I suspect they're frequently a pair that'll be breeding together the following spring; they'll start forming pair bonds as early as autumn. I suspect that's what's going on in my picture below.

The males and females look pretty similar to one another, and they can also be mistaken for a female Mallard. If you've got good lighting and see something the size and shape of a Mallard but that looks grayish-black instead of primarily brown, you may well be seeing an American Black Duck. The similarity between the ducks is more than just a superficial appearance; American Black Ducks have a complicated relationship with their more common Mallard cousins.

Here's a short video on them.

December 13, 2022 at Washington Valley Park
Photo 251086981, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] I suspect I talked about them in the now-nonexistent Tumblr version of the blog. 

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