Muscovy ducks are large tropical ducks and considered an invasive species in most of the United States. This page contains adult ducks showing the color variations of this bird and the skull of one who did not survive crossing the road. The subsequent pages show nesting female muscovy ducks, then muscovy ducklings, and then juvenile muscovy ducks. Photos were taken between May 2014 and July 2022.
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The 'original' muscovy ducks were all black birds. This male duck had the least amount of white feathers of all the ones I saw. (He had been resting which is why only one leg is visible. Ducks and geese often snooze while standing on one leg.)
[Rear side view of the duck standing on one leg in the grass with its head facing left. There are a few small white feathers around the red patch surrounding his eye and a couple of white feathers in his flight area. The rest of the bird is either black or teal including the innermost part of its beak.]

The male muscovy duck is a big duck.
[Front view of the duck sitting in the grass. He had a white neck and front side. The rest of his body including his head is mostly black. He has a larger (than the female) characteristic red around his eyes and upper beak. His beak has a red tinge to it and is black-tipped.]

Notice the thick legs on the male. One sees a lot of wing flapping when this hunk of duck goes airborne.
(The ladies are lighter so they are a bit more graceful in the air.)
[Side view of the standing duck. His feet are hidden in the grass, but his thick, tree-limb-like legs are clearly visible.]

This female almost looks as if she's wearing a black cape.
[Side back view of the female duck. The head and upper neck are mostly white. There are a few black splotches at the bottom of the head and she had the characteristic red around her eye and on the upper part of her light tan beak. Her back is nearly all black.]

Most females I saw in this area had a mostly white head. This one has more black than white.
[Side view of a female duck swimming from right to left at an angle toward the camera. She has a white patch around her eye and across her forhead, but the rest of her head is black. Her body is all dark except for the very front of her chest and a small patch near her tail.]

Female preening her feathers.
[Front view of a female with her head bent down as she picks at the feather on her stomach. Her bill is open and part of her lower bill is completely hidden by her feathers.]

These two were keeping an eye on me while they rested. Interesting that the one has nearly an all black head.
[Side view of two males sitting on the ground with their bills tucked into their back feathers. The one closer to the camer has a black head and a white neck while the one further away is the more common white head and neck with the red patch around the eye. The bodies of both birds are mostly black and teal feather with a few white ones.]

I came across this odd scene one evening. The black and white coloring of the muscovy ducks is clear from a distance, but the creature on the left is definitely not a bird.
[In the distance sitting atop a guard rail over a viaduct from right to left are three muscovy ducks and something furry (which I identified as a cat when I got closer).]

The duck seems to be curious about the cat too.
[Close view of a duck scratching its head then a duck with its head turned to look at the cat to its left. The cat is glaring at the camera. The two ducts are standing on the metal rail of the guard rail while the cat is sitting on the wooden post with its tail wrapped around its legs.]

The ducks and the duck-want-to-be are all in a row. Muscovy ducks are perching ducks which is probably why they are lined up for the evening here.
[A view looking down the top of the guard rail to see three ducks resting with their bills tucked into their back feathers and then the cat. Two ducks and the cat are watching the camera.]

A male muscovy duck and a wood stork keep an eye on me as I photograph them from the overpass.
[A wood stork stands to the left of a muscovy duck. They are on the dirt at the water's edge. A definite contrast between the two as the stork has long thin legs while the duck has short thick ones. The top of the muscovy duck's head reaches the shoulder of the stork.]

The feathers have a green tint to them.
[Side back view of a male sitting on the ground near the water's edge. He had a white and black mottled neck. He has some white feathers in his wing area, but most of them are shades of green with black tinges in them including all his tail feathers. They are almost irridescent in color.]

This muscovy apparently was hit while crossing the road. It lay on the road by the curb for a very long time. I did not realize the teeth these birds have until I took a close look at the skull.
[Side view of most of the head and bill with nearly all the skin and feathers gone. The head is hollow. The bill has a row of very small teeth along most of the bottom half of the bill. The top half has larger teeth for about two-thirds of the length of the bottom teeth.]

Continue to page 2 to see ducks eggs in unusual places.

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All photos © S. M. Garver