Black Duck on the Bay

[Dean Romig]

Kathy and I had a late lunch today at the Cape Neddick Lobster Pound at about the tail end of the ebb tide. There were mallards everywhere and not a single black in sight. Black Ducks have sure seen some bad times in the last several decades and the picture is somewhat bleak. One of the reasons for their low numbers is their propensity to breed with mallards thus thinning the bloodlines of the true Black Duck. The result of this cross-breeding is a duck that has more mallard characteristics than blacks.