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The American Black Duck
(Anas rubripes) is a medium-sized dabbling duck. The adult male
has a yellow bill, a dark body, lighter head and neck, orange
legs and dark eyes. The adult female has a similar appearance.
Both sexes have a shiny purple-blue wing patch, which is not bordered
with white as with the Mallard. Their breeding habitat is lakes,
ponds, rivers, marshes and other aquatic environments in eastern
Canada including the Great Lakes. Black ducks interbreed regularly
and extensively with Mallard ducks, to which they are closely
related; some authorities consider that Black Duck is no more
than a dark-plumaged race of Mallard, not a separate species at
all. The behaviour and voice are the same as for Mallard. In the
past, Black Ducks and Mallards were separated by habitat, with
the dark-plumaged Black Ducks having a selective advantage in
shaded forest pools in eastern North America, and the lighter
plumaged Mallards in the brighter, more open prairie and plains
lakes.
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In recent times,
deforestation in the east, and tree planting on the plains, has
broken down this habitat separation, leading to the high levels
of hybridisation now seen. They are partially migratory and many
winter in the east-central United States, especially coastal areas;
some remain year-round in the Great Lakes region. This
duck is a rare vagrant to Great Britain, where, over the years,
several birds have settled in and bred with the local Mallards.
The resulting hybrids can present considerable identification
difficulties. The eggs are a greenish buff color. They lay from
6-14 eggs, and hatch in an average of 30 days. These birds feed
by dabbling in shallow water, and grazing on land. They mainly
eat plants, but also some molluscs and aquatic insects.
Above Images Are From The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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