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From: dmark@acsu.buffalo.edu (David Mark)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Strange birds and Odd ducks
Message-ID: <69485@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Date: 7 Apr 91 16:11:43 GMT
References: <1991Apr7.040924.5415@mailer.cc.fsu.edu>
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In article <1991Apr7.040924.5415@mailer.cc.fsu.edu> svihla@evax0.eng.fsu.edu writes:
= A while back I posted a query regarding two birds who whizzed over my
=head while I was canoeing on a stream in Northern Florida.  The birds were
=large, had mottled black and white markings, and had red heads.  .....
=  ...
=                             ...  Close examination revealed this bird to
=be some weird sort of duck.  It was huge, for a duck anyway, more the size
=of a goose, I'd say.  It definitely had duck feet, though.  Its head
=was strange looking - bright red and two-tiered - I guess maybe you could
=say it had a crest.  ...
=                   ... it doesn't seem to be any species of duck native to
=the area.   WHAT is it, then?

Almost certainly they are Muscovy Ducks, Cairina moschata, native to
Mexico but widely 'escaped' in North America.  The head is illustrated
in the "Exotics and Escapes" plate (p. 303) in the new eastern Peterson
guide.  The whole bird is illustrated in the "Exotic Waterfowl" plate (p. 91)
of the National Geographic guide, and of course in the Mexican guides.

David Mark
dmark@sun.acsu.buffalo.edu