Muscovy duck by danapommet
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Description
This is our back yard. Twice a day, this Muscovy duck comes by and sits under this tree, until my wife, Jo short for Josephine, goes out to talk to the duck. Jo sits yoga style and the duck wanders around, pecking here and there, looking for food. There is a hand full of cracked corn that seems to show up when the duck pretends to get bored and starts to walk away. This photo is the look back to see if the corn has showed up yet. Sometimes the duck eats out of Jo’s hand and sometimes hops up in her lap to eat. Hard to keep a straight face while this routine is acted out each day. I chose this pose because of the colors in the wings.
Muscovy ducks are native to Mexico and down through South America. They were brought to the US and domesticated for food. They are larger than normal ducks so there is more meat on the body. The males are 34 inches (86cm) in length and 10 to 15 pounds (4.6-6.8kg). The females are 25 inches (64cm) long and 6-8 pounds (2.7-3.6kg). Domesticated males often weigh up to 17 pounds (8kg). The red ‘caruncles’ on the face indicate male or female and age. This is a young male because of the dark wings and the red ‘caruncles’ cover the base of the beak. But, because they can interbreed with wild ducks, it is only a guess.
Barbara, get out the travel crates because when the 'girls' see this lake, they will pack up the chew toys and be on their way.
Info from the National Geographic field guide to the birds of North America.
Thanks for stopping by, taking a look and for all your previous comments.
Dana
Comments (23)
zil2008
Beautiful capture. Yup, some cracked corn will get them everytime. We used to have a flock of Mallard ducks that stayed all summer enjoying that cracked corn treat.
Faemike55
Wonderful photo and great information! love the fact he looks for the cracked corn in her hand and will sit in her lap and eat it!
UOja
Fantastic capture! Very beautiful bird.
mgtcs
Beautiful, great capture, amazing photo!
BessieB
An excellent shot, amazed this is called your back yard lol, it looks like a huge piece of land with a lake and of course your very own visitor!
MrsRatbag
He does have beautiful plumage; I think it's wonderful that he trusts Jo enough to eat from her hand or her lap! I'm so jealous...
mermaid
so cute and wonderful it trusts your wife so fully to eat from her hands...
Alex_Antonov
Excellent!
jendellas
Your back garden W O W!!!!! Hate to say this Dana but the girls left an hour ago!!!!!! :o) We sometimes have a pair of these ducks on our lake on the country park.
Katraz
Nice Shot.
bmac62
Great story illustrated perfectly... Well done.
bimm3d
wonderful bird and photo!!!
3x3
cool shot mate x
flavia49
excellent capture!!!
flora-crassella
a interesting duck!!! wonderful shot!
sharky_
And he/she wears a red mask. Nice capture and nice to have a back yard like this. Aloha
sandra46
FANTASTIC CAPTURE!
durleybeachbum
Great story and pic!
virginiese
very nice fluffy guy ! I love the red part of the head ! Cute story too :-)
elfin14doaks
Wow really great capture. It's a really colorful duck.
mariogiannecchini
wonderful bird and photo!!!
orig_buggy
awesome color feathers!!
Richardphotos
they are usually a common sight here about.before one was hanging around the neighborhood and would follow myself and dogs as we walked around.I had a hard time to keep my dogs from getting too close. outstanding shot and very humorous