Is the Head of a Male Mallard Green or Blue? October 19, 2021

Most of the time, the head of a male Mallard definitely appears green.

Mallard (male)
Mallard (male)

However, if the light strikes it a certain way, it can appear blue.

Mallard (male)

Or the colour can be mixed.

Mallard (male)

Other birds today at Lambton Woods:

juvenile Herring Gull
Northern Cardinal (male)
Red-winged Blackbird (male)
Red-winged Blackbird (male)
Double-crested Cormorant
Turkey Vulture
European Starling and American Robin
Mallard (female)
Double-crested Cormorants
Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron

Bird Species list: double-crested cormorant, great blue heron, Canada goose, mallard, red-tailed hawk, turkey vulture, ring-billed gull, herring gull, hairy woodpecker, blue jay, American crow, black-capped chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, red-breasted nuthatch, European starling, American robin, ruby-crowned kinglet, golden-crowned kinglet, house sparrow, common grackle, red-winged blackbird, northern cardinal, American goldfinch, song sparrow. (24 species)

We also glimpsed a bunny:

Cottontail

and had plenty of sun:


10 am group:

1 pm group:

Some botany:

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Spindletree (Euonymus europaea) also called Burning Bush
Maple hybrid
Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadense)
Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus)
Panicled Aster (Symphyotrichum lanceolatum)
Miscanthus (Miscanthus sacchariflorus)
Manitoba Maple (Acer negundo)
Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)
Hackberry leaf galls
Sugar Maple (Acer sacharum)
Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora)

NATURE POETRY

Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves,
We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!        – Humbert Wolfe (1886–1940)

Miles Hearn

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