Squashed flat dead duck

[samvara]

Comments

[leecetheartist]

Interesting. It's very rare for Musk Ducks to be tootling about on land. Sad to see a dead one, they're the coolest ducks in the world.

[samvara]

Thank you - I was wondering what kind of duck it was! It's unusual to see a squished bird in that area

[leecetheartist]

It's either a juvenile or female.

We're told that Musk Ducks might fly at night more commonly than realised. They've been seen out at sea as well.

They're almost completely aquatic - see how far back the legs are set. They're a very low slung bird in the water, like a cormorant. When they're on land (something I've seen only once or twice) they have a very penguin like stance.

Their feathers feel more like fur, I expect how otter fur might feel.

[leecetheartist]

Hmm, now that I've looked closer, that might be a small throat lobe under the beak, I thought it was feathers, so maybe a juvenile male.

[samvara]

I was mostly impressed by how flat it's poor little head was!

[leecetheartist]

Where abouts was it? The bird, not the head. :-) How far was the nearest body of water?

[samvara]

East Cannington, plenty of small bodies of water nearby.

[leecetheartist]

Perhaps it was moving between two bodies of water and got hit by a steamroller. You'd think it'd be able to get out of the way of a steamroller, poor thing.

[samvara]

Maybe it was standing in wet concrete at the time!