Outdoor Ontario
Request for Information => Bird ID => Topic started by: Neev on December 09, 2014, 10:29:50 PM
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I was out walking along the Humber River in West Toronto this morning. I noticed an unfamiliar duck mixed in with some Mallard.
It was dark brown all over apart from a white patch on its breast right beneath the throat, and had a grey-ish bill. It was about the same size as the Mallard. I haven't had any luck identifying it so far and any help would be great!
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Hi Neev,
If it and you were near the big white bridge than it was an immature King Eider that you were looking at. It's actually a rare bird in Ontario but a few show up each winter.
Walter :)
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Hi Walter,
I saw the bird upriver in St. Etienne-Brule park, near Old Mill. I googled pictures of the immature King Eider and it does look like the bird I saw. The only thing that's making me doubt it is the bill - the bird I saw didn't have the same bill as an immature Eider. It looked like a Mallard's bill but slightly more pointed, if that makes sense?
I'm not familiar with King Eiders at all so could it still be an immature bird with an undeveloped bill?
Neev
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Your bird is more likely to be a domestic mallard of some variety.
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Given the location of the sighting and the fact that the bill of that King Eider is orange, it is unlikely to be a King Eider.
More likley that it's a domestic mallard.
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As Reuven and John have said, most likely some sort of domestic mallard.
Google 'bibbed mallard' and look thru the images.
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Yes, the pictures of bibbed mallards look like what I saw.
Thanks for the help!