Meet Sterling, the Duck
We love to watch the ducks on our little river. In fact, Drake is named after the many ducks that visit our yard. We occasionally have other more exciting avian species, such as a Great Blue Heron and Canadian Geese, but mainly we have ducks, and mallards at that.
Last week, Neil spotted an odd-looking duck. He had all the markings of a drake mallard, but he was much, much lighter - almost cream-colored. Neil said that his coloring reminded him of a confederate soldier's uniform and so he set about naming him Sterling - after Sterling Price, a confederate general.
I have sought help from many sources to properly identify Sterling (who would want to go around without an identity, right?). My friend, Nancy, saw me post about Sterling on Facebook and she asked two local authorities on birds for his identity. The consensus was a leucistic mallard. Leucism results from reduced pigmentation and is distinct from albinism, which is the absence of melanin. I contacted the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. They suggested that the muted tones are most likely the result of domestic breeding of ducks, which is a common hobby. Sometimes these ducks escape or are released into the wild and breed with wild ducks - producing unusual outcomes. Most seem to agree that this is a leucistic duck, but whether Sterling's tones are muted "naturally" or because of selective breeding is unknown. My mentor from college, an evolutionary psychologist, was holding out that Sterling might be a molted canvasback.
As one can see, Sterling has added much excitement to our household and neighborhood. Other recent visitors to our river have been a mink, two Canadian geese, and a hooded merganser. Here are some pictures of Sterling.
Last week, Neil spotted an odd-looking duck. He had all the markings of a drake mallard, but he was much, much lighter - almost cream-colored. Neil said that his coloring reminded him of a confederate soldier's uniform and so he set about naming him Sterling - after Sterling Price, a confederate general.
I have sought help from many sources to properly identify Sterling (who would want to go around without an identity, right?). My friend, Nancy, saw me post about Sterling on Facebook and she asked two local authorities on birds for his identity. The consensus was a leucistic mallard. Leucism results from reduced pigmentation and is distinct from albinism, which is the absence of melanin. I contacted the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. They suggested that the muted tones are most likely the result of domestic breeding of ducks, which is a common hobby. Sometimes these ducks escape or are released into the wild and breed with wild ducks - producing unusual outcomes. Most seem to agree that this is a leucistic duck, but whether Sterling's tones are muted "naturally" or because of selective breeding is unknown. My mentor from college, an evolutionary psychologist, was holding out that Sterling might be a molted canvasback.
As one can see, Sterling has added much excitement to our household and neighborhood. Other recent visitors to our river have been a mink, two Canadian geese, and a hooded merganser. Here are some pictures of Sterling.
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