American Black Duck
Description
19-22'. Sooty brown with paler head and conspicuous white wing linings and violet speculum; olive or dull yellow bill. Sexes similar. Female Mallard paler and sandier, with bill mottled with orange and black, and whitish tail feathers.
Voice
Typical duck quack.
Habitat
Marshes, lakes, streams, coastal mudflasts, and estuaries.
Nesting
9-12 greenish-buff eggs in a ground nest of feathers and down.
Other
Habitat destruction and widespread interbreeding between American Black Ducks and Mallards has resulted in recent years in a decrease of "pure" Blacks. Actually the bird in not black, but only appears so at a distance; it was formerly known as the "Dusky ;Duck." In areas of heavy shooting, these and other dabbling ducks ingest enough lead shot poisoning. If hunters used steel shot such damage would be much reduced.
Picture
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