American Black Duck Trio
by Barry Kent MacKay
Buy the Original Painting
Price
$800
Dimensions
24.000 x 18.000 x 0.250 inches
This original painting is currently for sale. At the present time, originals are not offered for sale through the Barry MacKay - Website secure checkout system. Please contact the artist directly to inquire about purchasing this original.
Click here to contact the artist.
Title
American Black Duck Trio
Artist
Barry Kent MacKay
Medium
Painting - Acrylic On Compressed Hardboard
Description
American Black Duck (Anas rubripes)
If you draw a line from north to south from the top of North America to the bottom, most of the suitable wetland habitat on the east side of that line may be occupied by American Black Ducks, either as a breeding species, especially in the northern half, or as a migrant or a wintering bird, with a wide overlap zone where it both breeds and winters. I mostly think of it as a species that nests in the boreal black spruce forests of northern Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. To the west of that imaginary line would be most of the historical native range of the extremely closely related Mallard (A. platyrhynchos), a species that tended to nest in marshes and sloughs in the prairie regions while the American Black Duck nested in forest ponds. The Mallard is also found across Eurasia, while the American Black Duck is strictly North American. But in modern times Mallards have moved east in North America and now occupy much of the same region as the American Black Duck.
The two species often hybridize, but not randomly. I live in the middle of the “hybrid zone” and both species are very common here. And yet while I do see hybrids, usually the Mallards seem to associate mostly with Mallards and the American Black Ducks with their own species as well. Female Mallards look superficially like American Black Ducks, being brown and mottled, but they are a lot lighter, have orange beaks with a bit of brown mottling, whitish tail feathers and blue speculums (the iridescent patch on the wing, which is more purple in the American Black Duck) and the Mallard’s feet are more orange, usually being red or reddish in the American Black Duck. Most of the time we just refer to this species as the “black duck”, with the “American” added to the official name to avoid confusion with a very different species of duck in Africa, also known as a black duck.
I showed a trio of birds on the east coast, where many may winter. There are two males and a female, the latter having an olive-green beak, as opposed to the bright yellow of the male, but otherwise the two sexes are quite similar. The painting is smaller than life size, in acrylic, on compressed hardboard. Size: 18 X 24”. $800.00
Uploaded
March 8th, 2021
Statistics
Viewed 267 Times - Last Visitor from Beverly Hills, CA on 03/28/2024 at 5:18 PM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
Comments
There are no comments for American Black Duck Trio. Click here to post the first comment.