ARO

i am new to duck hunting, so this may be a silly question.
i shot a duck this week, that appears to me to be a black duck hen.
it has all the features of a black duck hen, olive colored bill, orange legs, but the speculum seems to be green, rather then blue.
so is this a black duck?
could it possibly be a mottled drake?

the duck was shot in the eastern shore of maryland.
ARO

www.hunting-pictures.com/members/ARO/deer.html


Edited by - ARO on 12/20/2002 16:48:00

PowDuck

Am I missing something? The link didn't have the pic of this duck on it. (???) (Did it?)

The mottled duck and the black duck are pretty hard for me to tell the difference. (In pictures; I've never seen one up close and personal, dag nab it.)

The obvious give-away is the lack of white barring at the speculum that the mallard has. Give us a picture and I'll try to be more help.
Link to PowDuck's Homepage
Romans 8:28

PowDuck

OK. Let's try this route:

Link to DU's duck ID site:
http://www.ducks.org/waterfowling/gallery/index.asp

The mottled duck is primarily a Florida area duck. Most likely yours is a black duck.
Link to PowDuck's Homepage
Romans 8:28

Edited by - PowDuck on 12/21/2002 08:30:34

ARO

powduck,
i dont have a picture yet.
the barring is black along the speculum, the thing that i dont get, is everything i've read says the speculum is blue on a black duck, but, the speculum on this duck looks green, thats why i was having doubts.

thanks
ARO


www.hunting-pictures.com/members/ARO/deer.html

drgildy

If it has only a black edge on the speculum and it has an olive colored bill and the legs are a bright orange red you have a black duck drake. Out here in the Dakotas we very seldom see them. I have shot three in my life but did raise them under a Propagation permit for several years. You have what is a real prize. congratulations!

yeoman

ARO, you've killed a black duck. We don't have mottled ducks on the Eastern Shore. The drake and hen black duck both have olive colored bills, but the drake's bill is solid in color and slightly brighter olive, the hen's is mottled with color, much like the hen mallard. We do occasionally get black-mallards where the two species interbreed.

ARO

yeoman, the bill has some black markings on the bottom and top, and is an olive green color, would you say its a hen?

ARO

www.hunting-pictures.com/members/ARO/deer.html