grey duck

General birdwatching discussion, help with bird identification, and all other things relating to wild birds and birding in NZ that don't fit in one of the other forums.
spc19
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grey duck

Postby spc19 » Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:24 am

As there is apparently some doubt about the status of grey duck in NZ I'm posting pics of a pair on the river at Turangi that look like classic examples of the species - they also had four young
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Adam C
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Re: grey duck

Postby Adam C » Sun Jan 06, 2019 9:27 am

Orange legs are mallard genes. Grey ducks have Greenish brown legs and also Green speculum but this one seems to lack the white borders of mallard. But unfortunately the Orange legs are the biggy here.
“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”

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Adam C
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Re: grey duck

Postby Adam C » Sun Jan 06, 2019 10:27 am

It's interesting though. Trolling the internet I literally can't find one photo of a Grey Duck or even Pacific Black Duck with grey/brown or green/ brown legs. Everything has Orange tinged legs and a lot of photos showing supposedly pure featured ducks show them in the water with no feet showing. Does anybody actually have a photo of a Grey Duck with the grey/brown feet and legs?
“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”

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ourspot
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Re: grey duck

Postby ourspot » Sun Jan 06, 2019 11:26 am

We have a small population of great looking grey ducks at the Ngunguru Water Treatment Plant. I see at least one (usually 2) pretty pure looking grey ducks nearly every time on my weekly visits and I only count them when they are out of the water when I can confirm the legs are dark. There would be about 20+ good looking candidates for Grey Duck here but I'm still amazed how many have orange or orangish leg when they get out of the water. They also tend to keep in a group together a bit away from the 50 to 100 odd mallards that also use the pond (along with the 62 Brown Teal I saw there last week). I fear it's only a matter of time before all the greys become crossed with mallard tho. I only have one image with the dark legs. Cheers Scott
Grey Duck with Ducklings_NWTP_Oct17_ScottBrooks_LR_IMG_3506.jpg
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Jim_j
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Re: grey duck

Postby Jim_j » Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:03 pm

Given the number of grey duck that were in NZ before mallard were introduced, compared to the number of mallard introduced and the mallards tendency to mate with just abouut anything!!....then I suspect there are actually no mallard in NZ - only mallard/grey crosses - and maybe still some greys?
That photo looks pretty convincing Scott - but I imagine wthout some sort of genetic test you couldn't be certain.

cheers Jim
Jim Kirker
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Re: grey duck

Postby Jim Kirker » Sun Jan 06, 2019 1:27 pm

Adam C wrote:It's interesting though. Trolling the internet I literally can't find one photo of a Grey Duck or even Pacific Black Duck with grey/brown or green/ brown legs. Everything has Orange tinged legs and a lot of photos showing supposedly pure featured ducks show them in the water with no feet showing. Does anybody actually have a photo of a Grey Duck with the grey/brown feet and legs?


I think this is pretty much a full score for grey duck.
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Grey Duck, Michael's Avenue Reserve Pond, Auckland 23/11/18
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Adam C
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Re: grey duck

Postby Adam C » Sun Jan 06, 2019 2:00 pm

The leg closest to camera looks ok but that far leg looks orange tinted to me. The speculum looks blue green. I just want to see one image showing all feet grey/brown. I think we should keep the challenge going!
“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”

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Oscar Thomas
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Re: grey duck

Postby Oscar Thomas » Sun Jan 06, 2019 2:21 pm

When people say orange-tinted legs they mean something like this. The above photo looks perfectly good leg wise, I don’t think they get much greyer than that.
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Adam C
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Re: grey duck

Postby Adam C » Sun Jan 06, 2019 2:50 pm

Hi Oscar. Ok I'm just trying to clarify some things. I'm sure most on here know more than I do but the Heather-robertson Birds NZ field guide states greenish-brown legs and feet and another 'are you really seeing grey duck

https://ebird.org/newzealand/news/grey_ducks

...says Grey brown.

Also it's listed as 'Very Rare Native' so I guess I'm just trying to establish if these dull Orange brown legged ducks are true Grey Ducks or if indeed true Grey ducks have/had grey- brown legs and feet and the above are just the least hybridized that are left which would mean true grey ducks have actually gone.

Wondering if anyone else can shed some more light on this. Sorry all I just find it really interesting and would love to know the facts on it. If there was a photo of a Grey Duck with literally 'Grey-brown' feet that would settle it but so far the above is the closest we have yet.
“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”

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Adam C
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Re: grey duck

Postby Adam C » Sun Jan 06, 2019 3:12 pm

Just re-looking at Jim's pic the legs do look pretty good. Still love to see the feet. And I guess the speculum looks different depending on how the light hits it.

Still think we should keep the challenge open for a full pic of Grey-brown feet. Jim's is top of the board so far!
“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”

Samuel Ullman

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