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Nashville Warbler Neotropic Cormorant Northern Bobwhite Northern Cardinal Northern Flicker Northern Fulmar Northern Gannet Northern Goshawk Northern Harrier Northern Hawk Owl Northern Mockingbird Northern Parula Northern Pintail Northern Rough-winged Swallow Northern Saw-whet Owl Northern Shoveler Northern Shrike Northern Waterthrush Northwestern Crow Nuttall’s Woodpecker Oak Titmouse Olive-sided Flycatcher Orange-crowned Warbler Orchard Oriole Osprey Ovenbird Pacific Golden-Plover Pacific Loon Pacific-slope Flycatcher Painted Bunting Painted Redstart Palm Warbler Pectoral Sandpiper Pelagic Cormorant Peregrine Falcon Phainopepla Philadelphia Vireo Pied-billed Grebe Pigeon Guillemot Pileated Woodpecker Pine Grosbeak Pine Siskin Pine Warbler Pinyon Jay Piping Plover Plain Chachalaca Plumbeous Vireo Prairie Falcon Prairie Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Purple Finch Purple Gallinule Purple Martin Purple Sandpiper Pygmy Nuthatch Pyrrhuloxia Razorbill Red Crossbill Red Knot Red Phalarope 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Grouse Short-billed Dowitcher Short-eared Owl Slate-throated Redstart Smith’s Longspur Smooth-billed Ani Snail Kite Snow Bunting Snow Goose Snowy Egret Snowy Plover Solitary Sandpiper Song Sparrow Sooty Grouse Sora Spotted Owl Spotted Sandpiper Spotted Towhee Sprague’s Pipit Spruce Grouse Steller’s Jay Stilt Sandpiper Summer Tanager Surf Scoter Surfbird Swainson’s Hawk Swainson’s Thrush Swainson’s Warbler Swallow-tailed Kite Swamp Sparrow Tennessee Warbler Thick-billed Murre Townsend’s Solitaire Townsend’s Warbler Tree Swallow Tricolored Heron Tropical Kingbird Trumpeter Swan Tufted Puffin Tufted Titmouse Tundra Swan Turkey Vulture Upland Sandpiper Varied Bunting Varied Thrush Vaux’s Swift Veery Verdin Vermilion Flycatcher Vesper Sparrow Violet-green Swallow Virginia Rail Virginia’s Warbler Warbling Vireo Western Bluebird Western Grebe Western Gull Western Kingbird Western Sandpiper Western Screech-Owl Western Tanager Western Wood-Pewee Western-Meadowlark Whimbrel White Ibis White-breasted Nuthatch White-crowned Pigeon White-crowned Sparrow White-eyed Vireo White-faced Ibis White-headed Woodpecker White-rumped Sandpiper White-tailed Hawk White-tailed Kite White-tailed Ptarmigan White-throated Sparrow White-throated Swift White-tipped Dove White-winged Crossbill White-winged Dove White-winged Scoter Whooping Crane Wild Turkey Willet Williamson’s Sapsucker Willow Flycatcher Willow Ptarmigan Wilson’s Phalarope Wilson’s Plover Wilson’s Snipe Wilson’s Warbler Winter Wren Wood Duck Wood Stork Wood Thrush Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay Worm-eating Warbler Wrentit Yellow Rail Yellow Warbler Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Yellow-billed Cuckoo Yellow-billed Magpie Yellow-breasted Chat Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-headed Blackbird Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-throated Vireo Yellow-throated Warbler Zone-tailed Hawk

Six Odd Ducks (You Should Know)

Oddest ducks

Many people are familiar with a phrase that goes something like this:  “He’s an odd duck.”

It is a phrase used to denote a person that is strange,  unusual, or different.

Apparently the origin of the phrase is unknown.

An unusual person
Noun. odd duck (plural odd ducks) (idiomatic) An unusual person, especially an individual with an idiosyncratic personality or peculiar behavioral characteristics.

We suspect the phrase might have originated with the breeding habits of the Mallard.   Mallards will mate with almost any other species of duck, and in the process produce some very strange looking or “odd ducks.”  Mallards are so wide spread and their habits so consistent that strange “Mallards cross something” are quite common.

Here is an example of what might be the result of a Mallard cross something?

6. Mallard

Mallard cross with wigeon

Mallard mixes are not the only ducks to have an odd appearance.  For some reason the males of several species that spend a lot or most of their time in far northern Canada or off the coast of Alaska has developed very, yes, odd plumage.  Anyone seeing these species might well have uttered the “what an odd duck” phrase.

5. Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Ducks do nest in a small part of the mainland U.S. and winter along parts of both coasts. Prefers rocky cost lines and inland for nesting along swift, rocky streams.

Harlequin Duck male

Male Harlequin Duck.  Photograph by Glenn Bartley.

4. Common Eider

A group of ducks called eiders take the cake when it comes to odd-looking ducks, however.   Here are images of the males of the four eider species that are occasionally found in the U.S.  The Common and King Eider can sometimes be seen along the east coast but they nest in far northern Canada.  The Spectacled and Steller’s Eider nest along the Alaskan Coast.

Common Eider in flight
Common Eider.

3. King Eider

male king eider
King Eider.  Photograph © Alan Wilson

2. Spectacled Eider

spectacled eider male
Spectacled Eider. Photograph © Alan Wilson

1. Steller’s Eider

stellers eider male
Steller’s Eider. Photograph © Alan Wilson

Which do you think qualifies as the “oddest duck”?

About the Author

Sam Crowe

Sam is the founder of Birdzilla.com. He has been birding for over 30 years and has a world list of over 2000 species. He has served as treasurer of the Texas Ornithological Society, Sanctuary Chair of Dallas Audubon, Editor of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's "All About Birds" web site and as a contributing editor for Birding Business magazine. Many of his photographs and videos can be found on the site.

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