Here in the mid-Atlantic region of the USA there is an odd bird showing up around park ponds. I was told that the duck-like winged creatures with red wattles are the result of vultures (turkey buzzards) mating with ducks. WTF?
Aren’t they different species? Am I being fed a line? The naturalist in me is not coming out on this one-I’m stumped.
Ducks and vultures obviously aren’t very closely related. There are animals that are a lot closer to each other than ducks and vultures that can’t interbreed. So chances are your chain is being jerked. I bet someone will be along here shortly to tell you what those birds are that you’re seeing in the ponds.
While I’m sure a vulture would love to get hold of a duck, the end result would be duck dinner, not dultures.
Here’s what you’ve got, I’m willing to bet:
HANH!?! That is the most bizarre cross-species breeding I have heard!
Seriously, without actually seeing the duck but from the rough description, you might have a Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata).
Very large duck (L=about 28").
Can be white, glossy purplish-black, or mottled black-and-white.
Males have a red warty appearance to the face.
Breeds very proficiently (record around these parts is 22 eggs from one hen**
As far as I recall, they were imported into Florida (among other places) as an eating duck (akin to barnyard fowl and Peking/common ducks), and either escaped or were purposely released.
Nasty attitude - very aggressive.
Carriers of several diseases that infest and wipe out populations of native wild ducks. (Most diseases and pandemics (?) in wild ducks result from exposure to domestic breeds.
Usually overbreeds beyond the carry capacity of the local pond eco-system to the point of driving out native wild ducks.
In addition, they produce about a third of a pound of manure per bird per day, causing a rapid growth in algae and plant, clogging up the aquaculture and choking off the pond.
Not nice birds.
**may have been a case of ‘nest-dumping’ (other females leaving eggs in the nest), but the one female incubated them all.
Likely, it’s not a cross between a duck and a vulture.
However, if you cross a Caracara with a Vulture, you get…
A Caracature!
Thank you, I’ll be here all week!!!
Bingo! Thank you cher3 and Screech. Muscovy. A future suburban legend debunked. Thank you for your quick and accurate responses.
Here’s another avian inspired chain pull. When a bunch of barn swallows were circling around a chimney in an old neighborhood, around halloween, I had the kids around convinced they were bats. Ooooh. Scary.
Um, those barn swallows could be Chimney Swifts (Chaetura pelagica). South American species that migrates to the Great Plains, Eastern US and lower Mid-to Eastern Canada to breed. They do build their nests in chimneys (sticks and mud, attached with bird spit). The neatest thing is their feet: most birds have three toers pointing forward, one pointing back (most raptors and perching birds, heck most other bird species) or two toes pointing forward, two pointing back (as with owls). Chimney Swifts have all four toes (including the hallux**) pointing forward. Gives them a better grip on rough vertical surfaces.
I’m always getting calls about ‘haunted chimneys’ – “there’s weird sounds in my fireplace” – or a baby that fell out of the nest and is flying about the living room getting soot all over the place.
Anyway, swifts and bats do eat mosquitoes and other bugs, so there is a plus there.
**avian equvalent of the big toe
Finally, bird questions I can answer at work!!!
Okay Screech, thanks for the Swift/Swallow delineation. Very clear. You are very good at describing subtle differences, which is a gift.
Here’s one. Last summer and summer before that (here around the James River) I would see scads (several several, not dozens)of Blue Herons flying from the chickahominy to the James and back in the morning and evening right over the city.
This year none. I can’t imagine the whole population just died. How come I’m not seeing my large blue pals over Richmond this year?
Understand - there was a Great Blue Heron that would fly over Risley Hall at Cornell every day at about 5 pm (friend pointed it out when I went to visit) - didn’t know what time it flew out in the morning, but 5 pm like clockwork it would fly back in the evening.
Lots of possibilities why your buddies have gone AWOL (off the top of my head):
Many others possibilities I can’t think of right now, but it’s almost quitting time! 
Dulture, huh? I’d prefer to call it a vuck.
Well, SOMEbody had to say it!
The thread’s over 11 years old for anyone not paying attention.
And it’s still a Muscovy Duck.
I just hope that falcons don’t start mating with ducks…
Muscovy Ducks.
Breed like rabbits. Hiss like snakes. Shit like cows. But I still like em because they are damn entertaining. Kinda like your trashy neighbors that are always fighting out in the front yard.
I’m too lazy, so Vultures + Zombie = Joke.
When vultures fly on commercial airlines, do they ever check their luggage?
Too expensive. They only take carry on.
Dalcons?
Chuck, Chuck bo buck…
