Black Duck

mr.wiggle

Was out and about in Donerail Pk this morning and saw a lovely black duck being followed around by several male mallards. Googled it and it looks like a female American black duck. Are they common in Ireland?

V_Moth

Black Ducks are quite rare in Ireland, with a handful of records from the west coast (one long-staying male on Achill for example). Ducks of all kind are commonly kept in captivity and are occasionally released or escape and can end up on the local duck pond.

Another possibility is that the duck is an escaped domestic bird, which can look quite different to wild Mallards (see: http://www.talking-naturally.co.uk/manky-mallards-domestic-feral-plain-odd-mallards/).

Do you have any pics of the bird by any chance?

mr.wiggle

I did take a few as it was unusual looking to me. Hope they come out ok here
d1.jpg

d2.jpg

d3.jpg

d4.jpg

The only reason I suspect that it is a female is that the four others kept
closely behind/ around it whenever it waddled off anywhere?

swifts need our help!

Two manky mallards there
http://www.talking-naturally.co.uk/manky-mallards-domestic-feral-plain-odd-mallards/