MELANISTIC Ruddy Duck, Muskegon Wastewater, 7 May

[Caleb Putnam]

Chatters-

On Monday May 7 Sean Fitzgerald photographed an apparent melanistic Ruddy 
Duck at Muskegon Wastewater.  It was on one of the main lagoons (not sure 
which) with normal Ruddy Ducks and one apparently oiled bird (which clearly 
had grimy, tattered feathers and an all dark bill; the bird in question 
lacked these features).  Here are the photos:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2739461840039926655NQSuqv
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2831859080039926655HNlIGP
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2921961620039926655qPNnmH
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2932223110039926655RDwRyi
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2055848920039926655InRWuK
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2241673460039926655oneeut

At first Sean and his friend Tony Paladino weren't sure if it was oiled or 
actually black- but the silvery underparts and blue bill suggested the 
latter.  If I understand it correctly, this is a very rare, little known 
phenomenon in this species, for which I can only find 3 references for 
online; Sibley (large version) mentions it too- but I've never seen it.  
Comments welcome.

Enjoy!

Caleb Putnam
Grand Rapids, MI
larus10 at hotmail.com

_________________________________________________________________
More photos, more messages, more storage—get 2GB with Windows Live Hotmail. 
http://imagine-windowslive.com/hotmail/?locale=en-us&ocid=TXT_TAGHM_migration_HM_mini_2G_0507
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: DSCN7857.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 0 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/mich-chat/attachments/20070511/5aea676d/DSCN7857.jpe
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: DSCN7864.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 0 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/mich-chat/attachments/20070511/5aea676d/DSCN7864.jpe
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: DSCN7865.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 0 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/mich-chat/attachments/20070511/5aea676d/DSCN7865.jpe