American Black Ducks
Anas rubripes
American Black Duck · Constitution Marsh · 17 October 2026
Two American Black Ducks flying the length of Constitution Marsh with the wooded hills of the Hudson Highlands in full autumn colour behind them. Black Ducks are the dabbling duck of the Northeast's salt and tidal marshes, and the Hudson's marshes hold them through the winter.
The violet-blue patch on the wing, with no white border to it, separates them from a female Mallard, which looks much the same until it flies. The two are close enough to interbreed freely, and as Mallards spread east through the last century the hybrids grew common enough to be one of the reasons the Black Duck declined; at this distance I can't entirely rule one out.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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