Meet the little black duckling

Wildlife photography by AnnMackieMiller: copyright 2011
Dark mallard duckling - 1 day old

I'm fascinated by the colouring of mallard ducklings.  I now realise that over the centuries, cross breeding has mixed the gene pool so that odd colouring can be thrown up.  However, this is the first time I have seen an almost completely black duckling.  Well I suppose it is probably more brown than black but nevertheless it is the darkest duckling I've seen to date.  Where did it come from?  Who knows.  I do wonder if it came from the blue Swedish duck males that live along here but it is the normal small size of an ordinary mallard duckling so probably not.  I just hope it survives so we can see what colour it is in adulthood.

Duck pictures by AnnMackieMiller: copyright 2011
Female mallard duck with 1-day old ducklings