Tualatin River, 08/04/2009

[craiggamesh]

Finally got out on the river with a couple of strippers (boats that is). It has been a long time. Since the last time I used my kayak, I had fashioned and installed a small skeg. It's amazing how straight she paddles now for only being 11 feet long. I was in my kayak and my Father-in-law was in the cedar strip Touring Pirogue.

We came across this freakish looking duck. I am trying to decide if it is some sort of hybrid between two duck species. It happens, but most seem to be part mallard, and you can see the mallard in them. It did appear to be molting so that added to its odd appearance.




Then we headed for some skinny water. It was a creek that feeds the Tualatin River called Fanno Creek. At this time of year, it is very shallow.


We didn't make it far upstream until it was all rocks sticking up out of the water. This was a wide enough spot for the pirogue to turn around so we headed back out.

You can see how shallow it was because my Father-in-law was checking depth with the paddle blade.







Then we paddled upstream some more and saw this guy.


On the way back downstream he caught himself some supper. Yummy frog legs (and head and guts).




Although no fishing was involved, it was very enjoyable and relaxing. Now to get back to work on the Sabalo.

[scottrunnr]

Nice! Thanks for sharing.

[LIGHT KEEPER'S KID]

A Big Texas Thanks And i love that pirogue that you built,i think i'm going to start building all my boat's that way

Mike

[craiggamesh]

i think i'm going to start building all my boat's that way

The hardest part is coming up with the design. I may build the Laker that way someday. I think I would still use plywood for the bottom though. I think it would take the strain of the twist on the bottom much better. Besides, it can't be seen, unless you are some sort of aquatic creature, and I will coat all bottoms from now on with the graphite eopxy mix. I will probably go back and do that to my little kayak and the Pirogue. We got lots of scrapes yesterday.

[LIGHT KEEPER'S KID]

Yeah i now wish that i too had used graphite on my Wadefish bottom But as my first build i wasn't sure about useing it and i too plan on useing plywood on the bottom on this coming build,the Buccaneer 10-31 for my wife

Mike

[Kayak Jack]

I believe that's a wood duck. They're along Michigan's Au sable river in the spring, raising ducklings.

[Oldsparkey]

Around here Wood Ducks look like this. Male and Female.



That one you took the picture of has to be a hybrid or something between a summer and winter plumage.

Chuck.

[Jimmy W]

...domestic duck.

This is probably the most common answer to most beginning birder’s duck problems. Domestic duck breeds are not illustrated in most field guides, and the older guides did not mention this problem at all. When people go out looking for wild birds they seem to forget that domestic breeds exist. First rule of thumb: If your weird duck is found at a park, walking around on the grass or coming near people, it is probably a domestic duck. But, these domestic monsters do get mixed up in flocks of wild birds, too, so how do you spot them? Second rule of thumb: If your duck has large patches of white where you didn’t expect it, think domestic duck. People seem to love to breed white or partially white domestic animals, presumably because such mutations don’t do well in the wild and consequently are rare. Such mutations do turn up in the wild, though, and we’ll discuss them later, but for now, if you see big patches of white, think domestic duck.


Only two species of ducks have been domesticated: the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and the Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata).

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/domducks.htm

[craiggamesh]

That one you took the picture of has to be a hybrid or something between a summer and winter plumage.

Chuck

I thought it may be a hybrid between a mallard and a pintail. They are seen a lot together here and there is a bar near by. They probably got a little drunk one night and one thing led to another..........

I didn't think it was a wood duck because the beak is the wrong color. What's even weirder is this guy I came across last week at a petting zoo on a dairy farm/cheese making place on the Oregon coast. I think it is one of three possibilities:

1) I was on the Island of Dr. Moreau;
2) Someone didn't quite understand the concept behind the Tur-duc-hen and thought you actually had to breed them that way rather than just jamming the three in each other's body cavities and roasting to delicious perfection, or;
3) It was just some unusual breed of duck.

[Kayak Jack]

WOW! Talk about an ugly duckling!