Hollywoods came to town.(actually the local duck pond)

Capt. John

Capt. John

Active member
I went to our local city duck pond yesterday so we could get the kids to feed some ducks and geese. Wouldnt you know it, it was full of wild shovelers and mottled ducks! You could almost get them to come right up to you and take bread. The mottles kept back about ten feet but still, how do they know where there safe? I got some good pics at least. Also got bit on the back by a huge goose.

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John
 
Damn, those are some nice looking spoonie drakes, except for that first year drakes in the center right of the 1st picture and the far right of the 2nd.
Good example of how the 1st year birds of some species get their colors really late.
Great pics.
 
Man !! those drakes sure are pretty! Don't see many of those here. I believe that the older birds imprint on areas they have been safe and food abundant in the past, and the younger birds follow. Also the numbers build and build all season long as they aren't being displaced by hunting pressure. Migrants come in and see the numbers of birds and join in. Have alot of that here in areas that can't be hunted. It's nice to be able to go to such places and watch the different birds. Get any photos of the Mottled Ducks?
 
Looks like a domestic grey-leg to me. We have them at the parks here.
 
heres a few of the mottled ducks that were there. Those are very suprising to see there, they wont even decoy half the time while hunting because there so spooky.

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Wow, that one looks very dark. Sure that isn't a Mexican?? It's just a question as I don't know much about them. Just that the few Mottled Ducks I have seen (dead/mounted) were of a lighter color. Thanks for sharing the photos!
 
on the "big ugly" creature in the photo......

Steve
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That photo gives me flashbacks about the Chinese Geese my Grandpa had. Sneaky mean creatures. When we would load geese in crates they were always the last to go in because nobody wanted to grab them. Their neck is just a bit longer and tough to control. You didn't turn your back on them in the yard either.

Very cool looking neighbor ducks.

Tim
 
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I dont know much at all about the entire mexican, mottled, black duck thing but my good freind Eric Schmidt is a taxidermist here and he was standing right next to me when I took these pictures. He started in on how he was looking for white on there wings to show hybridization with mallards (which none had) and on and on. All that stuff is over my head. I do know he had to go to El Paso to shoot mexican ducks and he said theres none around here. Once again, I personally dont know.
 
2 Seasons ago (07/08) we got covered up here in CT/RI with shovlers. It was the oddest thing, we had shot a one here and there in the past, but that year we shot 7 and passed many more. Not only that, of them most were nice drakes!!
One I shot in CT:
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and one from RI my brother and I tag-teamed, had a better photo but cant find it:
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Nice pictures, John. Enjoyed seeing your mottled ducks. They look so much like our Mexican ducks here.
Al
 
First off, Bill those are great birds! We shoot a lot of them here but they only look good for about the last two weeks of season. And secondly, Pat Gregory, I love that deek. I'm a long time fan of your decoys, you do amazing work.
John
 
Thanks Capt! We were really surprised that the ONE year we shot them they were of that quality!! The group I hunt in has been at it since the late 90s, and all of our fathers taught us, they started in the lmid 70's, and that was the first year any of us had seen/shot more than one or two, and even then they were young, dirty brown birds!

And I'll second that Pat, really enjoy seeing your work, great bird!
 
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