Re: Information & ID of a Duck?

[Julie Clark <>]

Thanks to all who responded to my request for information about the duck.

Danny was very appreciative.

Cheers

Julie

On Fri, May 11, 2018 at 6:14 PM, Don Fletcher <> wrote:

Hi Cristine, Geoffrey, John and Julie

(not list)

 

How many / what proportion of the mallards (and hybrids) could be persuaded to take food at each of these locations?   I’m wonder if there may be some potential for authorities to reduce the risk of hybridisation at these locations by returning the mallards to the purpose mallards were domesticated for.  

 

 

Don Fletcher

0428 48 9990

 

From: John Harris <m("biblesociety.org.au","john.harris");" target="_blank">au>
Sent: Friday, 11 May 2018 12:58 PM
To: Christine <>; chatline <m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");" target="_blank">org.au>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Re: Information & ID of a Duck?

 

This is actually a worrying issue. I believe that in New Zealand there are virtually no pure Pacific Black Ducks left (In NZ they call the NZ subspecies ‘Grey Duck’). Rather, they have a self-perpetuating (true breeding??) hybrid population with virtually no pure PBD genetic material left.

We would not want this to happen in Australia but statistical biological logic says that once it has started the mallard genes will spread throughout the genepool.

There is a mallard on Ginninderra pond. When fishing there, I have sometimes wondered if I should catch it and eat it and leave the Murray Cod for another day…

 

 

 

From: Christine <m("gmail.com","christine.d9933");" target="_blank">>
Date: Friday, 11 May 2018 at 12:12 pm
To: chatline <m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");" target="_blank">org.au>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Re: Information & ID of a Duck?

 

Hi Julie,

 

If Geoffrey is right about it being the one from West Belconnen Pond (which I think quite likely), then this was a duckling from last summer, and I have some very very poor photos from 2nd Jan 2017, The mother was a Mallard type, probably a hybrid, and the other duck in your photos is probably one of its siblings, as the ducklings were very close for over a year, and seen together (as in Geoffrey's photo), just the 5 or 6 of them, usually a little apart from the other mallards.

 

A couple of years before there was a Mallard type female with 12 ducklings - 6 yellow and 6 brown, but I only saw them once as tiny ducklings, so assume they all did not make it.

So yes, the domestic "Mallards" are breeding in the wild at WBP.

 

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Julie Clark