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Index of Subjects > Obviously, this Black/Mallard is a common mix, but the first one I noted is very strange, as the male teal seemed to be quite interested in the female merganser, while the male merganser just kept diving close by, seemingly oblivious to .... I wonder if the female was bringing up some kind of the food the teal was interested in? Can's resist a reply to Billy's note. No comment on the first group, > which is indeed an example of strange bedfellows, but of course the > second example is not strange at all, since the mallard and black > duck quite freely interbreed and probably should be united/lumped > into a single species. My suspicion about why the "experts" have not > lumped the blallards or mack ducks is because then the "floodgates" > would be open to possible other lumpings, since all of the ducks, > especially the dabblers or surface-feeding ducks, are prone to mixing > up their genes. In my experience in Canada's "duck basket" on the > prairies, it was not unusual to see two different kinds of ducklings > in a single brood, and occasionally three kinds! There are some nice > paintings of hybrid ducks and ducklings? in Kortwright's classic, > titled something like Ducks, Geese, and Swans of North America?? As > I recall, one of the hybrids documented was between two different > subfamilies of ducks, namely goldeneye with a merganser?? > > Cheers from Jim in Wolfville > ----------------------- > > Begin forwarded message: > >> From: bdigout@seaside.ns.ca >> Date: May 21, 2009 7:33:11 AM ADT >> To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca >> Subject: [NatureNS] strange bed...I mean duck-fellows >> Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca >> >> Yesterday in Strachan's Cove in St. Peter's, a pair of Red-breasted >> Mergansers was accompanied by a Blue-winged Teal, while nearby a male >> Mallard and female Black Duck were together. >> Billy >> > >
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