Matt Young’s Blog

Most of the duck hunters I know enjoy shooting a mixed bag of different waterfowl species, and they are always pleasantly surprised when they bag something unusual. In the Mississippi and Atlantic flyways, harvesting a cinnamon teal is cause for celebration, while in the Central and Pacific flyways, taking a black duck is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Some species of sea ducks, diving ducks and geese are also rarely encountered except in specific areas.

Hybrids are also coveted trophies among waterfowlers. According to noted waterfowl biologist Paul Johnsgard, more than 400 kinds of interspecies hybrids have been documented among waterfowl. Mallards alone are known to have crossbred with some 40 other species in the wild and captivity. Mallard/black duck crosses are not uncommon in the Atlantic and Mississippi flyways, as these closely related species readily interbreed where their ranges overlap. Many waterfowl hybrids are striking if not beautiful birds. Mallard/pintail hybrids are prime examples. These birds often have an iridescent green head like a mallard, but have the blue bill and long tail feathers of a pintail drake. Mallard/gadwall hybrids can also be great looking trophies. John James Audubon painted a portrait of one of these birds that he shot on Louisiana’s Lake Barataria in 1822. Audubon mistakenly thought he had discovered a new species, which he named the Brewer’s duck in honor of a friend, Boston ornithologist Thomas M. Brewer.

What about exotics? Eurasian wigeon occur in fair numbers in the Pacific Flyway, and every year some of them are taken by hunters, largely in Washington, Oregon and California. Most of these birds come from Siberia, but reports indicate that a small breeding population also exists in Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Smaller numbers of Eurasian wigeon occur in the other flyways and likely include a few vagrants from Iceland, the United Kingdom and mainland Europe. Tufted ducks, a Eurasian relative of the ring-necked duck, also occasionally show up in North American marshes. Other exotic species are taken by hunters from time to time, but most of these birds turn out to be escapees from zoos or private collections.

Then there are leucistic and albino waterfowl. Animals with leucism have reduced pigmentation in their bodies. In waterfowl, leucism can affect plumage, bill and foot color. A few years back, DU Regional Director Tim Soderquist shot a hen pintail in Texas with pale, frosted plumage that is a good example of a leucistic bird. True albinism, where an animal has no pigmentation at all in its skin, feathers or eyes, is extremely rare, occurring in as few as 1 in a million individuals.

The older I get, the more I have come to realize that every duck is a trophy. If you consider the amazing journey waterfowl make every year between their breeding and wintering areas and the grave threats they face from habitat loss across the continent, we should never take them for granted.

What would be your ultimate trophy bird? I’m sure there are many DU members who have shot rare and unusual ducks. If you’re among them, please send your stories & photos to us at blogs@ducks.org. We will feature as many as we can in Part II of this story.

–Matt