introduced birds

[gavinm]

hi there,

my local park is smashing for birds. I've seen Goldcrests, Redwings, Fieldfares and Wagtails flitting about amongst more common birds (I just know there are Waxwings around as well). Plus they have a small lake which regularly attracts Pintails and Red Crested Pochard along with the usual. It's great for a park clearly designed for kids.

Anyway, the lake has some introduced birds and I'd love to know what they are. I know they aren't wild but it'd be good to know. Anyone help?

The one in the middle:

[Dave Appleton]

All the birds in this photo are Mallards, but the ones that don't look like Mallards ought to look are domestic variants. Duck keepers have given names to certain variants, and your particularly distinctive blackish-green bird is probably either a Cayuga or East Indian Runner, both of which can look similar. But attempting to pigeonhole domestic Mallards into any one named variant is often futile, and they're all the same species as Mallard - easiest and most accurate just to call them all domestic Mallards.

[Dave Appleton]

That's odd - I could only see one photo before but now I see a second - and that's a Barnacle Goose.

[MIKE THROWER]

I would guess at melanistic Malard,which is the occurrence of an increased amount of dark pigmentation (as of skin, feathers, eyes or hair) in an organism, resulting from the presence of melanin. It is the opposite of leucism and albinism, which occur because of a lack of melanin or other types of pigment.

The other goose is a Barnacle.

[gavinm]

Are you sure it's a Barnacle goose? They are tiny things. I just dismissed the idea that they were Barnacle geese as the one's I've seen previously have been much larger

[Dave Appleton]

Well I can't see the second photo again now (maybe something to do with the large size?) but yes, from what I can recall it was a pretty clear-cut Barnacle. They're pretty small geese - a good deal smaller than Greylag Geese and much smaller than Canada Geese (at least the usual form we see in this country).

[gavinm]

Sorry about the large size. Wasn't sure how to get them smaller.

Thanks so much for your help. feel a bit foolish now!

[PeterB]

Originally Posted by gavinm

Wasn't sure how to get them smaller.

I see you are using tinypic. When you select the file name, to the right you can select a size, this is it at 800x600

Originally Posted by gavinm

feel a bit foolish now!

Don't it's what this place is for and nothing compared to some of the gaffe's I've made.

[gavinm]

Thanks again.

I guess my final question is; how do you know if a bird is wild or part of a collection? The obvious answer is that if it comes and goes then it's wild but is there a quick way? How can you tell if its wing is clipped?