I was able to view the mallard/blackduck cross a little better ie. neither the bird or I were moving. It is certainly a hybrid. May be backcrossed with mallard. As it swam I could see no white on the secondaries, however the wings were folded. The wings had some silvery color to them on top of the back, not as much as the mallards. The sides and breast were all mottled/dark brown. No white ring on the neck. Head was mostly green, but not irredescent. Feathers near the base of the bill were brown. The legs were more red than those of the adjacent male mallards which were more orange. The birds were loafing along the shoreline in the 1000 block of West Lake Drive just west of Legion Rd. It seems that the ducks have been either there or along the beach over the last several week period. Maybe much ado about nothing. I've seen similar birds to this one in the past, but never this far west. If anybody is interested it's a pretty easy find. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
