Duck Romance

On the left, a male black duck. On the right, a female mallard. 

The duck couple I wrote about two weeks ago was mating on the pond in Brooklyn Bridge Park again today, Sunday, March 10, 2013. Click here for the previous blog.   

I photographed some of their courtship postures last time. Today I took a few shots of copulation, which is brief and happens in the water. They ended their courtship displays with mutual head-pumping. Then she extended her head and got low and flat in the water.

The male stepped onto the female's back. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see her head below the surface. 

Grabbing her neck or feathers helps him keep his balance. 

He maneuvered his tail under hers to make genital contact. Above water we see a single thrust. 

It was over in moments. He stepped off. She floated up.  

She enjoyed some post-copulatory splashing. 

Ta Da! 

Duck Date

Last February I wrote about a pair of interesting puddle ducks I saw in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Click here for that blog. She was a mallard, Anas platyrhynchos. He was an American black duck, Anas rubripes. She would normally mate with a green-headed male mallard duck. But they appeared to be a couple. 

I think I saw the same pair in the same spot today.  

This is the female mallard duck. Both genders of mallard have conspicuous white borders on the blue patch of wing feathers called the speculum.

This is the male black duck. His plumage is subdued compared to the famous green-headed mallards.  His speculum does not have a white border. Click on this to see the male mallard in a previous blog. 

When I came upon the pair today, they were performing courtship displays. She had her neck extended and was lying low in the water. He was swimming around her, pumping his head up and down. 

Courtship postures. 

He stepped onto her back briefly, they mated in the water, and then he hopped off. He flapped his wings and raised his body in a splashy post-copulatory display. Then he paddled to the shore to nibble at plants and preen. The female dashed around the pond for about ten minutes of post-copulatory splashing. 

When the celebration is over, she may lay eggs, and hatch some hybrid chicks with a combination of mallard and black duck features.  

American Black Duck

The male American Black Duck, Anas rubripes, has a dark body and light head, orange-red legs, unblemished yellowish bill, and a black-bordered bluish purple speculum (the brightly colored patch of feathers on the wing). 

I was walking in Brooklyn Bridge park yesterday when I heard splashing and thrashing in the pond. I got there just in time to see a male mallard duck fly away and a pair of ducks in the pond swimming excitedly and shaking their feathers. I may have just missed a duck fight! The male mallard circled overhead and splash-landed in the pond. He was chased away immediately as the duck pictured above rushed at him threateningly. This time the mallard flew away and did not return. The victorious duck bathed with exaggerated wing thrashing and water splashing.

A duck celebrates victory after chasing another duck away. 

The pair of ducks that remained soon settled down in the shallows to preen their feathers. They were a male American black duck and a female mallard. Despite being different species they behaved like a couple. She followed him around the pond, and, as explained, he was chasing male ducks away.

The Mallard duck female, Anas platyrhynchos, at lower right has a blue speculum bordered with white. Her beak is orange with black splotches.  

Male mallards occasionally breed with female black ducks and produce hybrid offspring. The mating displays of the two species are identical. But most of the mixed couples are a mallard male and a black duck female. I haven't seen reports of male black ducks with mallard females, but I haven't searched extensively. If any of my readers can speak about this, please post a comment. Meanwhile, I will consult with ornithologists I know and report back. I hope the ducks continue to visit the pond so I can keep an eye on them and let you know what I see.

The black duck stretches his wing, showing off his speculum and bright foot. The color of the speculum seems to change with the light. This is the same bird as above. Click to enlarge.