Muscovy Ducks

awww baby Muscovy ducks are SO cute!

The Mallard Duck is the most common wild duck in the USA

Male ducks are called “drakes,” and females are called “hens.” Babies are called ducklings.

It takes about two months before ducklings can fly.

Ducks have webbed feet, which act like paddles.

Ducks can live from 2-14 years, depending on the species.

A duck has three eyelids.

Ducks are related to geese and swans.

Ducks’ feathers are waterproof. There is a special gland that produces oil near the tail that spreads and covers the outer coat of feathers. Beneath this waterproof layer are fluffy and soft feathers to keep the duck warm.

Ducks keep clean by preening themselves with their beaks, which they do often. They also line their nests with feathers plucked from their chest.

Ducks never have cold feet since they do not have nerves or blood vessels in their feet.

Ducks line their nests with feathers they pluck from their chest.

Most duck species do not quack, but instead make a wide range of calls ranging from whistles to coos, yodels to grunts, and much more.

Feeding
Most ducks are foragers and prefer a variety of foods such as grasses, fish, insects, small amphibians, aquatic plants, small molluscs, and worms.

A few specialized species such as the smew, goosander, and the mergansers are adapted to catch and swallow large fish.

Most duck bills are lined with serrated “lamellae” — thin, plate-like structures that aid in filter feeding.

Male Muscovy Ducks have spiralled penises which can become erect to 20 cm in one third of a second. Females have cloacas that spiral in the opposite direction to try and limit forced copulation by males.

Slow motion footage of male Muscovy ducks showed their penises extend with explosive speed, reaching a full 20cm in 0.36 seconds. “We think this allows the male to actually force copulations on females even as they struggle to escape,” Patricia Brennan said in an email exchange.

Sources:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/dec/23/video-genital-warfare-ducks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscovy_Duck#Description

The Muscovies original name was “Musco Duck”, because it is known as the “Mosquito Duck”, for eating Mosquitoes. The term “Muscovy” means “from the Moscow region”, But these ducks are neither native there nor were they introduced there before they became known in Western Europe. It is not quite clear how the term came about; it very likely originated between 1550 and 1600, but did not become widespread until somewhat later.

One of the main reasons they were brought here several hundred years ago, is to help keep down the mosquito and bug population, and that they do, and do it well. There are billions of insects on a acre of land, and the muscovy ducks are worth their weight in gold at eating mosquitos and misc. tiny little insects. They eat the mosquito larva right in the water, and they nip in the air and eat the ones flying around. They love roaches and eat them like they are candy, they eat flies, and maggots and do a lot to keep down the fly population. They even eat those rolly pollies that you find under rocks and all around the outside of your house. They have a bad taste, and most birds won’t even eat them, the Muscovies are one of the few things that will eat them. I have even seen them eat ants, they eat every bug they see. But what even makes them more valuable is they love spiders, and they eat even the poisonous ones, the Black Widow, and the deadly brown spider that is worse than the Black Widow. It is quite common in Florida. They are in our garages, around our house,(some are right in our homes) under our picnic tables, all around us, and the Muscovy Ducks have saved many peoples lives from spider bites and people don’t even know it. They should have these ducks in all parks for these reasons. They go under the bridges and picnic tables where kids play, and reach up in the corners and crevices and eat the spiders, along with other insects, making them more valuable than people will ever know. By the way… these spiders love to live in mops, brooms and brushes, and have their family in them also. If you have brooms, brushes,or mops in the garage or out side, do not bring them in the house without soaking them in clorox for a day or so…also, do not handle your brushes without soaking them first in the clorox, or one can come right onto your hand.

The Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata) is a large duck which is native to Mexico and Central and South America. A small wild population reaches into the United States in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. There also are feral breeding populations in North America in and around public parks in nearly every state of the USA and in the Canadian provinces; feral populations also exist in Europe. Although the Muscovy Duck is a tropical bird, it adapts to icy and snowy conditions down to –12°C (10°F) and below without ill effects.

Many farms use the muscovies to help control the bugs, flies, mosquitos, and weeds on their farm. Muscovy Ducks also come in handy on farms because they go around and eat all the excess food laying around that can draw rats. They also come in handy so the farmer can give them the left over food of the chickens or other fowl. I give them my fowls left over food daily… I do not know what I would do with it, if I didn’t have the wild Muscovies that visit me daily, and eat my excess feed. The Muscovies even help keep down the rats because of eating the left over food, then there is none to draw the rats in the night to eat it. The Muscovies have it all gone by the time night falls. They also come in handy because they eat the roaches and other bugs all over the place. When we first moved in here there were roaches all over our yard, now with the ducks here, I never see any.
Many people do not know it, but, Florida is crawling with rats. Rats are all over Florida, even in the rich areas. There are many different types here also, hugh ones, burrowing ones, regular ones, etc. The Muscovies help very much to keep them down.

You can use this guide to help you determine or estimate the age of your muscovy duck or ducks.

They are such beautiful ducks!

Kasia5872 of New Orleans has some of the best Muscovy Duck videos online. Kasia5872 has 130 videos uploaded to on her Youtube account. After watching 15-20 of her videos, you can tell that she has a deep down love for not only Muscovy ducks, but all animals. It seems like she takes in injured or rescued Muscovy ducks and helps them get better as well as have a lot of fun times along the way.

Muscovy ducks will steal your heart if you ever get to know them. They are overly friendly and have become accustomed to living alongside humans. Although they have been living wild in North America since at least the late 19th Century people still don’t know much about them so I hope this website  will help you appreciate them a little more.

Description: Muscovy ducks are brownish-black in coloration, with iridescent green and purple dorsal plumage and white wing patches. The legs and feet are grayish-black and the iris is yellowish-brown. Males and females are similar in appearance, but males are nearly twice as large as females. In addition, males have a patch of bare black skin surrounded by pinkish-red caruncles (fleshy outgrowths) which extends from the back of the eye to the bill. Although relatively silent, the male or drake, produces a low hissing sound and the female has a short, weak “quack.”

Breeding / Nesting: This species, like the Mallard, does not form stable pairs. Popular males are often seen with up to three females. Forced sexual intercourse can occur in feral populations. The hen lays a clutch of 8-10 white eggs, usually in a tree hole or hollow, which are incubated for 35 days. The Muscovy Duck has benefited from nest boxes in Mexico, but is uncommon in much of the east of its range due to persecution.

Food habits: Muscovy ducks feed on the roots, stems, leaves and seeds of aquatic and terrestrial plants, including agricultural crops. They also eat small fish, reptiles, crustaceans, insects, millipedes and termites.