Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Unknown Aquatic Chicken


Just chillin' out around our complex's pool... y'know, the one that didn't open until mid-June, last year.

UPDATE: The head shape to me doesn't look right, but the markings are similar. Unfortunately, they aren't known to come to Tennessee. Anyone have additional guesses?

UPDATE II: Thanks to a friend at Duke University, I think it's safe to say this is a Muscovy duck. I had missed the red skin near the top of the beak. While not native to the area, it's still quite likely that's what this is.

UPDATE III: In comments, bo wants props. Indeed, they are deserved. We both missed the red stuff on the upper bill, though.
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5 comments :

xan said...

White-winged scoter?

No, not scooter. You know scooters. I am suspecting this is a scoter.

closest I can find anyway. Of course it's not supposed to be anywhere within several states of Tennessee, but winds out of the south can do many strange things. :)

bo said...

little hard to tell from the pic, but it looks like a bit of mallard marking on the wing - the purplish patch. Might be a hybrid. The body shape reminds me of a muscovy, though it doesn't have the red wattle mask. Does it have a funny gait where the head kind of shoves out on each step?

Plenty of wierd duck gene mashup were walking around in the parking lots where I last worked.

Anonymous said...

A Merganser. Why not.

-mnkid

Pen Ultimate said...

It just doesn't look like a Merganser (or ANYTHING else that I've found, online), though.

I think it's a hybrid, mutant duck. Apparently, duck species CAN interbreed. I'm guessing some cross of an Asian domesticated duck and a platypus.
.

bo said...

Dude, where's my props. :(

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