Muscovy

I like the duck pond at El Dorado for a lot of reasons. A wide variety of birds, usually easily identifiable, the birds have no problem being close to people, and it's something I can do with my 4-year-old daughter.

March 7, 2010 at the El Dorado duck pond, about 4:00 p.m.  A Muscovy Duck drake in the foreground, and what I believe is a female Muscovy behind him (with the dark bill and long, slender neck.)  Also, Mallard drakes and hens, a couple of American Wigeons, California Gulls, and an American Coot. 

I knew what the Mallards and coots were because everyone knows what a Mallard is, and I looked up coots a long time ago.  The American Wigeon I identified a while back after a previous visit to the duck pond. I took a picture of one and then compared it to iBird - where I mistakenly thought it was a Eurporean Wigeon.  I then looked online and saw it was American.  The black and white Muscovy with the bright red caruncles on its face I readily identified on iBird while still at the park.  I am still not sure about the brown and white speckled duck with the dark bill in the background.  I know it's a domestic duck, I just can't tell what kind.  I'll try to get another picture of it.  The Calfornia Gulls I identified online.