Texas Game and Fish, Volume 9, Number 12, November 1951 Page: 3
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the lobed hind toe group and the
group with the plain hind toe. See
Figure 1 on page 4.
Another good physical feature that
will aid us in our identification is
color of feet and legs. Let's examine
the plain-toed group first:
Members of the mallard group
(mallards, mottles, and black ducks)
have yellowish to orange to reddish-
orange colored feet and legs depend-
ing greatly upon the age of the indi-
vidual. The shovellers also go in for
loud-colored footwear.
Pintails, green-winged teal, bald-
pates and fulvous tree ducks have
gray to blue-gray feet and legs.
Blue-winged teal have yellow to
orange feet and legs, as have the wood
ducks. Gadwalls wear yellow to dirty-
yellow socks.
In our lobed-toe group we find
canvasbacks, redheads and scaups
with conservative blue-gray lower ap-
pendages, ringnecks and golden eyes
with yellow, dirtied to varied degrees,
and the mergansers with the orange
or red-orange footwear similar to the
elite mallard group.
Another physical feature that aids
in identification is shape of bill. See
Figure 2 on page 4. In the plain-toed
group we might refer to the mallard
bill as "regular." Only one of this
group, the shoveller, has a decided
variation from normal. He has a spatu-
late or "spoon-shaped" bill that makes
him a marked man.
In our diving group we find the
little ruddy with a very broad bill
that might be called semi-spatulate;
the mergansers with a long cylindrical
bill that appears to be toothed down
the sides - handy equipment for
catching and holding fish-a main
item in their diet; and the canvas-
back with a bill that's very thick at
the base, giving him a triangular pro-
file which invites the nickname "hoss
head."
The color of the bill is another im-
portant thing to consider in our
waterfowl "What is it?"
Our mallard group will probably
give us the most trouble. The male
mottles, mallards and blacks have bills
that vary in color from bright yellow
to olive-yellow to orange-yellow. The
females of these species lacking facili-- I
9
ties and faculties that would promote
the use of facial cosmetics are content
with their drab-colored orange to
mottled orange to olive-greens and
yellows. The other dabbling ducks
have bill colors ranging from black to
blue gray and blue-black with the ex-
ception of the male wood duck which
displays pink, red, black, and yellow
to set him up as the Valentino of
duckdom to his truly fair.
The color of the bills of diving
ducks varies from black to blue-black
to bright blue and then abruptly
jumps to red or reddish-orange. The
mergansers sport the brighter red
shades; the male of the ruddy sports
the bright blue and the male canny
is black. Both male and female ring-
necked ducks have whitish bands
across the upper bill-one near the
tip and one near the base.
Now let us examine the out-
stretched wing. As we view the wing
on the upper side from the tip toward
the body of the duck, we notice the
first bend of the wing which is the
wrist. Between the wrist and the sec-
ond bend of the wing we have the
forearm. The trailing edge of the
wing behind the forearm is made up
of feathers called "secondaries." It is
this particular area that is referred to
as the "speculum," an area of bright-
ly colored iridescent feathers on many
of our puddle ducks. See Figure 3 on
page 5.
The mallard group exhibits a spec-
ulum that varies from purple to
bluish purple. The mallard species is
the only one of the group that has
a speculum prominently bordered,
front and rear, with white.Pintails have violet bronze and
green in the speculum. Green is the
predominant color found in the sec-
ondary patch of the teals, shovellers,
and baldpates. The wood ducks have
a blending of blue, green and purple
and the gadwall is the only puddle
duck that has a white speculum.
Toward the front of the forearm,
gadwalls have a brown coloration and
the blue-winged teals and shovellers
have light blue.
The fulvous tree duck has a gray-
black speculum and a brownish fore-
arm.
The divers fail to show this irides-
cence in the secondaries. Canvasbacks
and redheads are silver gray, scaups
are white, ruddys are brown and the
mergansers have white secondaries
with white to steel-gray forearms.
The color of the head is very use-
ful in separating the sexes in many
cases. I suppose everyone is familiar
with the glossy green head and white
neck-ring of the male mallard. The
"greenhead" is one of the favorite
ducks of Texas sportsmen. The males
of the mottle and black duck, how-
ever, are not blessed with such feath-
ered finery and we turn to color of
bill to distinguish them from their
mates.
The pintail drake with his full-dress
appearance, chocolate brown head,
white neck front and upturned white
collar makes him old "White-tie-and-
tails" personified.
The male green-winged teal has a
beautiful chestnut head with glossy
green eye slashes. Mr. Bluewing has
a mixture of gray and greenish purple
iridescence accented by a crescent-
shaped white patch in front of the
eye.
The gadwall male is not too attrac-
tive if we just see his gray-brown
head-he doesn't differ greatly from
his spouse.
Mr. Baldpate with his white crown
and forehead and green eye slash is
easily told from his inconspicuous
mate.
The highly-colored, crested head of
the wood duck drake looks with
bloodshot eye on the equally crested,
but less gaudy, countenance of his
brown-eyed babe.
The male and female of the ful-
vous tree duck evidently patronize theNOVEMBER, 19519
3
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Texas. Game and Fish Commission. Texas Game and Fish, Volume 9, Number 12, November 1951, periodical, November 1951; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1588356/m1/5/?q=%221951~%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.