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My mother’s birthday is just around the corner and while finding a perfect gift for her birthday I started searching for the popular duck breeds as she’s fond of these aquatic birds. I must say I was surprised to know that there are some black and white duck breeds (honestly I had no idea that black and white ducks exist).
To find a unique and elegant one for her I spent almost a day researching on the internet. Sadly, there aren’t a large number of black and white duck breeds. But what the breeds we have on this planet are worth sharing.
I’m not sure if there are some more breeds or not (or maybe there are but they just aren’t registered) but these are the popular black and white duck breeds found in the world.
? Muscovy duck
? Hooded Merganser
? Greater scaup
? Wood duck
? Bufflehead duck
? Tufted duck
? Common goldeneye duck
These were the popular names in the black and white ducks generation. Now let’s discuss these breeds in detail.
Black and White Duck Breeds
1. Muscovy duck
This fairly large duck breed that originates from Central South America and Mexico is known for its long claws, prominent dark red knob, yellowing brown eyes, flat tail, and attractive black and white loose patterns. These domestic aquatic birds are remarkably agile and speedy.
The muscovy duck breed’s access was limited to Florida, Louisiana, the Big Island of Hawaii, Rio Grande Valley (Texas), and Massachusetts for several years and then a sudden revolution opened their way to New Zealand, Australia, and Europe.
Now, they are known in almost all parts of the world because of their extra delicious meat (that tastes a bit different from the regular duck breeds).
This duck breed is often kept as a pet because they aren’t that loud and for this habit, they are usually referred to as “quackless” ducks. They are raised for meat, feathers, and eggs.
2. Hooded Merganser
Hooded merganser sometimes leaves the audience in confusion whether they do or do not belong to the duck’s world. Their oversized heads and a slightly different buildup makes them stand out in the crowd.
The head and necks are usually black whereas the belly, chest, and breast are mainly white with no hint of black. They swim quite slower than most breeds but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good swimmers.
This breed is commonly seen around ponds, streams, and rivers diving for fishes all around the world. In winter, when water in the ponds and streams is freezing they take the road to the unfrozen lakes for the search of food.
Though this breed is common in almost all countries of the world, they prefer to live in forested wetland systems where they can build a home in tree cavities. They are usually kept for their exceptional beauty or eggs.
3. Greater scaup
Greater scaup is just another example of a black and white duck breed that is popular for their migrating habit.
In summers they are mostly seen in Alaska, Siberia, northern Canada, and the Northmost reaches of Europe whereas in Winters they find a home in Europe, North America, and Japan.
Their head is usually in dark glossy green color with black breast and white belly. They become ready for breeding at the age of just two years.
Like most of the duck breeds, they live on aquatic plants, insects, and mollusks. Owls, raccoons, coyotes, foxes, and humans are considered their worst predators.
Greater scaup is generally considered game birds and they are widely hunted in Greece, Germany, France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
4. Wood duck
Wood duck catches the audience’s attention with black and white prominent markings and their attractive color blend. Males in this breed have got more colors than the females wood ducks but still, they look elegant as they should.
They call each other by making different sounds like jeeeeee, weep do weep, cr-r-ek, and sometimes gather each other around by raising squeal and whistling.
Most of the population of this duck breed is living their life in the ponds, marshes, shallow lakes, creeks, and wooded swamps of western Mexico, North America, and the west coast of the United States.
Because of their attractive unique appearance, most landowners are trying to domesticate the bird by building nest boxes in their favorite places (lakes, ponds, and streams).
5. Bufflehead duck
Bufflehead duck looks prominent in the crowd because of it’s black and white patches and purple and green colors. Because of their nature and certain habits, they are considered the most active ducks in the aquatic bird’s world.
Buffleheads are also considered game birds and for this reference, they are hunted across the world. Their necks, scapulars, belly, and breast are white and the back and rump are mostly black.
This bufflehead duck is the rarest duck breed vagrant to Western Europe. A little percentage of the total bufflehead duck population is found in the rivers, bays, lakes, and ponds of Alaska and Canada.
This duck breed is extremely good at swimming and diving. They usually dive under the water to catch the aquatic invertebrates to fulfill their tummy up. The name bufflehead is given to give credit to their large-headed appearance.
6. Tufted duck
The tufted duck is another famous black and white duck breed that has a population reaching one million. Most of the total population belonging to this breed is found in northern Eurasia.
Both males and females in this breed have got prominent yellow eyes. The black color is dominant in the male tufted duck breed however they have some markings of white color on their flanks.
The females in this breed are generally loud and noisy, they call their fellas by making a “karr” sound where the males whistles “wit-oo” to get the attention.
These ducks keep on migrating between Europe, Asia, and British isles all their life. They like spending their lives around lagoons, shorelines, and sheltered ponds. They survive on eating aquatic plants, insects, and mollusks.
7. Common goldeneye duck
Common goldeneye duck is a medium-sized sea duck that is considered the closest relative of Barrow’s goldeneye. They got this weird name because of their famous yellow-golden eye color.
A huge population of goldeneye duck is living their lives on the rivers and lakes of Northern Russia, Baltic States, Northern United States, Canada, and Scandinavian.
Like most of the duck population, they build their homes in natural tree cavities using broken limbs and woodpeckers. Crustaceans, crabs, shrimps, crayfish, amphipods, leeches, small fishes, frogs, marine worms, and aquatic insects are their favorite food options.
These were the black and white duck breeds that crossed my sight and the detail is the summary of the information I gathered from thorough research. I hope it helped you with whatever reason you are reading this on.
