I had to get gasoline in my car yesterday and decided on a whim to visit the Urban Lakes Forest Park to get some photographs of the water.
What I found instead confounded me for awhile.
Yes there was a scenic view of the lake (pond?) with lots of ducks, the two in front doing their head under the water trick looking for lunch.
They apparently had read the signs.
But what puzzled me was the big guy who seemed to be herding them around.
This was definitely a duck of a different color.
I sent a couple of photos to my duck expert in North Dakota, Hunter Dan, and asked him what on earth this bird was.
Dan responded promptly saying he was in the mountains in Montana, had never seen a duck like that but that he'd look it up when he got home.
But in the meantime I decided to ask The Mighty Google and soon had an answer.
It appears to be a Muscovy duck, native to Central and South America but now common throughout the United States and even southern Canada.
And those red wattles on his face are natural, not some kind of disease.
So there you have it, Gentle Readers.
Just another lesson from a naturalist in the city.
I had a friend that jogged around that lake every morning and swore there was a sturgeon living in the lake. My first thought was that the nearest sturgeon was in the Columbia River but did find that the State of Arizona planted sturgeon in the Colorado River at Lake Havasu at one time. He was certain it was about a three foot sturgeon. How did it get in Yavapai Lake?
ReplyDelete"Muscovy" sounds a lot like a mispronounciation of Moscow and since the duck had red markings I suspect you may have a Communist insurgent in your regional park. Suggest you contact QAnon and Antifa to fully investigate. One of both should get to the bottom of it.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've heard of that one before.
ReplyDeleteIs that his small harem?
ReplyDeleteI was going to guess a mix of some kind. I was going to be wrong.
ReplyDeleteAnd so now everything is just ducky!
ReplyDeleteBTW seeing the fish sign, including channel catfish reminded me of the time I caught a 5 pound channel cat on a bamboo pole, fishing with a bobber. I was just a kid and hated the entire experience until I landed the big fish, but then was told to let an adult take it off the hook, because of the "stickers."
Pat, he acted like it. Very protective.
ReplyDeleteI had a Muscovy duck , he was rather aggressive
ReplyDeleteVery interesting.
ReplyDeleteThat's an odd duck!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting sighting you had there. I think we may have seen a Muscovy duck here once a few years ago. I just checked my blog archives, and yes we did! Interestingly, it was in November 2016. Maybe they only show up in election years!
ReplyDeleteThat is a very colorful duck. Sounds like he was a bit bossy too.
ReplyDelete