You’re an American black duck!
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You were banded on a warm summer day by two high school students at Tantramar Marsh in Sackville, New Brunswick. Tantramar High School is one of Ducks Unlimited Canada’s partners in the Wetlands Centre of Excellence program. As part of their program, the school operates bait traps to capture birds for banding.
You and your mate arrived at the marsh in spring. She laid seven greenish-white eggs in a nest hidden under some plants. Once the eggs hatched, she stayed with the ducklings for seven weeks until they were able to fly.
You left your mate before the eggs hatched to moult. This is a time when you lose your old feathers and grew fresh new ones. You couldn’t fly while moulting your wing feathers, so you relied on your speed and camouflage to avoid a hungry mink.
When the weather turned cold in the fall, you joined with other ducks to migrate south and will winter at the same marsh as last year, on Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.
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Fast Facts:
- common in eastern Canada but rare west of Ontario
- looks black from far away, but is actually dark brown
- may interbreed with mallard ducks
- Black duck numbers have been dropping for the last 50 years. Ducks Unlimited Canada scientists and others work hard to find ways to reverse this.