h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I saw a pair of strange ducks today on the canal (Dublin, Ireland).

One was all black. THe other was black with a large white patch on each side.

Does anybody know what they are?

The only all-black duck I've been able to trace is the common scoter, which is usually found around coasts and is usually a winter visitor but sometimes stays all year. Where were the white patches on the other duck? It could be a male eider duck in 'eclipse phase' (flight feathers have moulted), depending on where the patches were.

It looked like it had white wings which were folded along the side of its body.

The only birds I can find in my wee book which remotely resemble your description are:

Tufted Duck - Aythya fuligula
The male has white belly and flanks.

or

Scaup - Athya marila

It's more likely to be the first since the second is usually found in lakes and pools on tundra and taiga.

My wee birdie book is wonderful - really detailed photos and small enough to take in a jacket pocket. Collins "Birds of Britain and Europe" ISBN 0-00-219995-5

Could be a Diver, see RSPB link

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/b/blackthroateddiver/index.asp

It looked like the tufted duck, but with more black and less white. It certainly was a duck, with a duck's beak. I didn't notice a tuft on the back of its head, but it may have been there. I hope it is still there when I'm going home this evening - I'll have a closer look.

Was it standing around with a rabbit and a pig, calling them 'dithpicable'?

If so I would suggest it is a loonius toonias, and should be avoided for your own safety - be particularly wary if it is hanging around with a small alien that likes to say 'kaboom'

Maybe it was a badger.

I know badgers can dance and march in formation, but can they swim?

Badgers can do anything they want, I mean, just look at the street closure embarkment fiasco of Manchester in 1998. oh, the duck; yes i've seen it; it was on Crimewatch a week or so back; I suggest you report it to the pliece, I'd suggest the mice police myself, as they never sleep.

I saw the ducks again today. They were not surrounded by moorhens this time and were much closer, so I could clearly see a tuft hanging down on the back of the black-and-white duck's head. And the black one, on closer inspection, is very dark brown. So they are Tufted Ducks, a species common enough in Ireland, but not in Dublin where I live. They are not exactly the same as the ones in the books - the female is much darker, and the white patches on the male are smaller. I wonder is there an Irish race of this species?

I also saw two swans this morning, one on an enormous nest and the other fussing around. There were a few mallards and moorhens as well.

Photagraphs in bird spotting books rarely compare exactly to RL as they can't account for time of year, adult v juvenile, photogaphic colours v real colours and size. I've got about ten books close to where I watch the birds in my garden and there are ten different views of what even a house sparrow looks like. Makes it more interesting having to do a bit of research.

My big bird book shows two pictures of the female, one dark brown and the other even darker, labelled "Greyer variant". The male gets darker plumage in summer, too. The text talks about mixed flocks of Tufted Ducks, Scaups, Ring-Necked Ducks and Ferruginous ducks:

" There are natural variations in apperance according to age, sex and season in all theses species, but the possibility of escapes from waterfowl collections and even hybrids with intermediate features make these mixed flocks quite fascinating to determined wildfowl watchers."

So there.

Zube