Muscovy ducks Whakatane

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Cardinal15
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Muscovy ducks Whakatane

Postby Cardinal15 » Tue May 04, 2021 7:52 pm

If anyone is interested, there is a population of 10 to 12 muscovy ducks at Sullivan Lake in Whakatane. I know these birds are probably captive reared birds but if they start breeding and start making a self sustaining population, would they be counted as fully, feral/introduced birds, and not, introduced, not naturalised?

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Cardinal15
Raewyn
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Re: Muscovy ducks Whakatane

Postby Raewyn » Tue May 04, 2021 9:34 pm

They have been breeding there for a long time. I've always counted them as domestic. I think they get so much bread that they can't really be considered feral. There is also an occasional muscovy/mallard hybrid.
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Cardinal15
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Re: Muscovy ducks Whakatane

Postby Cardinal15 » Fri Jun 10, 2022 9:12 pm

Went there recently and counted 19 birds although some of them looked definitely look like hybrids.
Here are two of them. Nice to see some New Zealand Grebe there also.
DSCN7162.JPG
DSCN7162.JPG (726.9 KiB) Viewed 881 times
SomesBirder
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Re: Muscovy ducks Whakatane

Postby SomesBirder » Sat Jun 11, 2022 3:21 am

The two ducks in the photo look like large juvenile Muscovy to me.

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