Wood duck in Cambridge

[colincurry]

Inspired by the Mandarin thread

My wife spotted this chap early one morning in the centre of Cambridge. Presumably he is either an escapee or son of a pair of these. He was quite happily swimming around in the company of a small group of mallard.



This was not the best of pictures but he proved elusive when dodging the flotilla of rowing eights - Saturday morning is practice time.

When we came back, he was still around after several hours and I was able to get a couple of reasonable pictures.





Quite a pleasant surprise to add to a reasonable kingfisher, kestrel and the best little grebe yet.

Colin

[aeshna5]

They are stunning birds, no doubt escaped from a collection somewhere. Though there are records of feral birds breeding they've never taken off like Mandarins.

[sionnach]

I've been seeing this guy for the last few weeks and was failing miserably to identify him.

Thanks for the identification!

[colincurry]

I also saw a pair last Spring at Fen Drayton who looked as though they were trying to nest in a flooded field next to the track. Unfortunately, they did not stay long and I have not seen them since.

Colin

[Jason Green]

Wow, what sensational-looking birds

You must be pleased, Colin!

[Ruth Daniel]

What a stunning bird....he's wonderful!
Thanks for sharing Colin!

[Pam_M]

Super photo's, Colin! I must agree, a stunning looking bird!

[sionnach]

Oddly enough he is now in his less conspicious "eclipse plumage". I'm not even sure what that is!

[Adam Cheeseman]

At this time of year wildfowl go through a complete moult of their flight feathers so they effectively become flightless until the new ones have grown. Whilst they are in this condition the rest of the plumage on the normally brightly coloured males changes into a drab (eclipse) plumage so that they are less conspicuous.

Cheers,

Adam

[RoyW]

'Eclipse' plumage is something that is unique to ducks and is a plumage that the males of almost all duck species attain for a short time during the summer in which they lose their bright courtship colours and become much like the females.

Ducks, geese and swans are unusual in that they moult all of their flight feathers at the same time (late in the breeding season). This means that they become flightless, and during this period it is an advantage for them to be inconcpicuous.
Example photos from the Gallery-
Male Mallard in typical plumage (duck courtship often takes place during the winter so they need to be in full breeding colours);


Female Mallard (dull colours so that a female sitting on a nest is camouflaged);


Male in eclipse plumage (some male features are usually visible if you look closely - male Mallards keep the yellow bill);


This years young are an added complication in the mix, and closely resemble females (including bill colour) regardless of sex. Young males do not start to moult into their first breeding plumage until late autumn (eg. November) at the earliest though - most look like the females until February or March. This means that birds that show some male feathering at this time of year are adult males.

Note that not all birds of a species moult at exactly the same time, and the dull plumage is aquired before the flight feathers are lost, and kept until after they have regrown - so you will see ducks flying during the summer, even some of the ones that are in eclipse plumage.

Roy.