Help identify this duck

[merrily]

We have 5 ducks in the backyard. We have lived here just off the Chesapeake Bay, backed up to an estuary, for 5 years, and never saw these before, and we see a lot of ducks.

They are all black, with a line of white where the wing meets the body. Two have these tufts straight up on top of their heads (I would guess these are the males.) They are larger than a mallard, but make the usual duck noises.

I looked in the bird book, tried to do searches online, looked at google pictures of ducks (enjoyed seeing the ones of Mandarin Duck and of the movie Duck Soup), and no luck. Part of the problem is that there is a duck called a black duck (which is really dark brown, and is very common here), so I keep getting those pages. It is not a ringed duck or a tufted duck, because it is entirely black on the body. Also, no ring on the beak.

I am guessing that they are off course, since we get a lot of ducks but never these before.

Can anyone help with an identification? How about an online link to a photo?

Thanks.

[barbitu8]

http://enature.com/fieldguide/showSpeciesSH.asp?curGroupID=1&shapeID=965&curPageNum=55&recnum=BD0419
The male black scoter is our only all black duck. What color is the bill?

[merrily]

The beak is also black. No yellow, nothing.

[MikeS]

The only thing the Sibley Guide lists matching your description (other than the tufted duck and the ring-necked duck) is the Muscovy Duck (http://212.187.155.84/wnv/Subdirectories_for_Search/SpeciesKingdoms/0Families_ACrAv_Anseriformes/anatidae/1ACrAvAn_cairina/Cairina_moschata/Cairina_moschata_adult_1_PS.jpg) (more pictures here. (http://212.187.155.84/wnv/Subdirectories_for_Search/SpeciesKingdoms/0Families_ACrAv_Anseriformes/anatidae/1ACrAvAn_cairina/Cairina_moschata/Cairina_moschata.html)) If that's it, then either it's way off course (it's native to Central & South America), or it's escaped from a local breeder (apparently muscovy duck is much less fatty than regular duck.) Domesticated muscovy ducks generally have more red & white on their bodies, but the amount is variable.

[merrily]

This is the closest I've seen--the pictures show a great variation in coloring, so all black is possible, and it has a crest, although not exactly like the ones we saw. It also apparently interbreeds easily, so maybe we saw something locally bred from Muscovies.

Great site, by the way, thanks!

[MikeS]

Looking a little more, the most distinctive features of the Muscovy Duck are the "warts" on its face - while a couple of other ducks will have a "knob" or a "shield" associated with the bill, the Muscovy is the only one with multiple bumps around the bill and eyes. (AFAIK.) So if your ducks have such bumps, you can be pretty sure they're Muscovies.

[merrily]

We will have to look if they show up today--none were apparent, but they wouldn't let us get that close.

If we had only known they would be so elusive to identify, we would have taken pictures.