photo #9438998

ORNITHOLOGY DETECTIVE WORKI love the Internet! The Consulate's host community maintains a duck pond, as part of its municipal park system, and during a walk there recently, we happened to notice a some peculiar ducks. Mixed in with vanilla mallards, and a few smaller species, were several oddities. They were all large, and dark. Two seemed jet black, with blue feet. A third was larger still, but with a white patch a the top of he breast, and iridescent green head, and a small blue stripe on his wings. (that last bit has probably already tipped off any bird watchers out there)I returned the next week with a camera - and a dead battery. (*grumpy face*) I returned aGain the other day, and got my evidence. Finally got those photos loaded into the Consular laptop tonight, and began researching. And in short order, I had my answer (NO AI required!)They are Cayuga ducks, a breed of domestic ducks, known for pleasant dispositions. The blue stripe on the wing was the dead giveaway. It turns out, most of them will appear iridescent green in the right lighting. The ones with blue feet are an even darker sub-breed ("phase"). And the one with the white patch? A sign of maturity in that breed, like grey hair in humans. And how did they come to colonize that pond? No idea. Perhaps recent escapees from a local owner; perhaps feral descendants of an earlier such escape.