In spite of signage asking people not to feed the wildlife at this pond in one of our local parks, these people had the ducks eating out of the palms of their hands!
I'd been following the big dark duck around the pond, trying to figure out what it was as I'd never seen it there before. It turned out to be a Cayuga Duck, which is generally a domestic species, but clearly this one found itself in the wild somehow. I think the other duck in the photo is a Domestic Mallard as well. I'm never sure what to do when I spot supposedly domestic ducks in the wild but I always worry about their ability to survive, especially over the winter... Maybe it's a little less bad that the people fed these birds, which probably aren't accustomed to fending for themselves?
I'm chuckling, Jessica... You'll be happy to know that those "Domestic Mallards" are the most profuse birds in to world and found nearly everywhere! They sponge off every location as well, as they eat with the flamingos in zoos and I've had them come to my pool (anywhere from a pair to 9 of them!) for the last15 years!
