New Waterfowl Friends

If you’ve walked past the pond in front of the Centre for Urban Ecology recently, you may have noticed two unusual looking ducks paddling around – they look a lot like the mallards commonly seen in Toronto, but their splashy white chests are hard to miss!

We believe these are two bibbed mallards, which are actually a domestic breed of mallard. Wild mallards are also known to mate with other species of ducks, which can create a variety of interesting looking hybrids, but this mated pair are most likely on the lam from a nearby farm. They may even have been intentionally released.

The big question now is – what should we name this dapper, dabbling couple?