Injured male Mallard at our birdfeeders
You may have seen the injured male Mallard on the birdfeeder cam. Right now, he is coming to the area under the feeders about once a day – always entering from the right side of your screen. He is sometimes alone and sometimes with a female and from their behavior, they appear to be a pair. But as he is not in breeding plumage, their pairing may not be as a mated pair – they could be nest-mates from earlier this year. Mallard juveniles often stay together for the entire year.
He is limping and at first we thought he had an injured foot. We do not approach birds in our yard unless we are adding seed to feeders, water to the baths, or cleaning feeders and birdbaths. We leave the birds alone so they can interact with each other without keeping one eye on us as possible predators or a source of trouble. I have looked at this duck for many minutes through binoculars and our scope and I think his actual foot is fine. The web seems well formed and when he walks, his foot behaves as the feet do on all mallards. When he lifts it, the web closes and when he sets it down on the ground, the web opens to its full width. The leg itself also looks fine. Where the problem seems to be is where the leg joins the body. That is probably all I will ever know.
He walks with a decided limp but he flies well. His wing-beats are regular and strong. He takes off from the feeder area with no trouble whatsoever. I also watched him swimming and at least for short distances, he swims just fine – no hint of this injury. It seems to only affect his walking from the lake’s edge to our feeders. Both Cleon and I wish him well. He seems to be coping and compensating.