Quote:
Originally Posted by bgizzle
I was told by old timers that the "red legged" mallards were northerners that migrated and that's how you knew they were new arrivals. Seems I was wrong but after doing research seems it's confused more often than you think. But I was wrong and never afraid to admit it. I thank you guys for teaching me the right thing about them.
Have you ever heard that you can tell where a mallard is from by the color of its feet? As the story goes, the legs and feet of northern mallards are redder than their southern cohorts because low temperatures in higher latitudes cause more blood to flow to the birds’ extremities. These mallards are also thought to be larger and hardier than mallards raised in southern parts of the species’ range. Old-timers called these big, late-migrating mallards “redlegs.”
You can read the rest of article at this link
http://www.ducks.org/conservation/wa...webbed-wonders
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I was told the same thing as well. Ducks would come in and someone would inevitably say 'them there is flight ducks, look at them red legs', well they are surely flight ducks because they didn't swim in right?
But yes, the feet and bill and even eye rings of some ducks get more coloration closer to mating season. A wood duck drake in November is a pretty bird no doubt, but much prettier in March.
Keep it in the freezer and if you kill one later in the year thats 'prettier' mount that one and use that other for dog training - unless you have a rock dog
