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Swedish, Crested, and Manky

By Mike July 16, 2008 4 comments

During my most recent trip to California, I had a chance to drop in on Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area in Los Angeles. The waterfowl there were mighty tame, with wild ducks, geese, and cormorants practically posing for portraits. But the bird that really captured my eye was not purebred but rather poultry.

This fine fellow [...]

Hybrid Mallards

By Charlie June 28, 2007 34 comments

Hybrids. Scary chimera between unrelated species, or slightly odd-looking crosses of what are in effect close relatives? Well, in biology there are two distinct meanings of the word ‘hybrid’: the first is “the result of interbreeding between two animals or plants of different species”, and the second is “crosses between populations, breeds or cultivars within [...]

“Manky Mallards” (domestic, feral, or just plain odd Mallards)

By Charlie June 28, 2007 34 comments

(This page is updated regularly: last update - images and new identifications added - December 2009)
I spend a fair bit of time surfing and flicking through various Bird Fora/Forums, and it’s striking how many queries there are from birders all over the world who’ve been completely stumped by finding an odd duck on their local [...]

Odd Ducks

By Mike September 28, 2003 1 comment

Once our ceremonial duties at Jay and April’s wedding were concluded, it was time to move south to visit old friends in Orange County. We wished the happy couple the best of luck and took off. But first, we had to go back to Sepulveda Basin! We saw all of the birds [...]