Bird Identification

[MuskyManiac]

What the hell kind of bird is this?

 

[Duckslayer100]

Night Heron

 

[Fly Carpin]

Green heron (Butorides virescens)

 

[Achucker]

Heron for sure. I say either little blue or green. Cant get full detail of colors

 

[guywhofishes]

Death Bird.

Corpse nearby.

Call 911.

 

[PrairieGhost]

Green heron (Butorides virescens)

:;:thumbsup Yup

 

[WormWiggler]

Death Bird.

Corpse nearby.

Call 911.

What? like magpies or ravens?

 

[guywhofishes]

I’m a trained observer

every spooky movie with one of those ends up having a victim nearby

 

[Allen]

Anyone know what kind of ducks these are? They've been at my place all summer, but I've never seen anything quite like them. They're mallard-like, but the male has a shiny black head, not green. And the mottled coloration of the hen makes me think they are domestic.

 

[Rut2much]

That's Def a drake mallardxfarm hybrid, 3 easy distinguishing factors but may have to google lens his buddy

 

[NDSportsman]

OP is a green heron

The ducks are definitely domestic hybrids

 

[Maddog]

 

[Allen]

So, the consensus would be at least something of a mallard based domestic hybrid. Even Co-Pilot thinks that. My neighbor has had domestics (the big all-white ones) in the past that visited my place, maybe one or two of them found a mate even though I've never noticed odd ducklings.

The differences between these two and the domestics that have visited in the past is that these are much more normal sized, the domestics were always about 20% bigger, and they were bullies to the wild ducks in that the wild ducks would always leave to avoid interacting with them. This pair is near normal sized for wild mallards, and their behavior is much more like the wild ducks, although the other mallards tend to give them space.

Anyway, cool but kind of goofy pair to have around this year.

And no, I've seen no sign of these two having offspring.

 

[ndlongshot]

Get 'em out of the gene pool.

 

[NDSportsman]

Yep couple roast ducks should be on the menu....

 

[MSA]

yes, Green Heron