Date: 2/28/25 5:34 pm From: Ben Kolstad via groups.io <ben...> Subject: [slocobirding] Wood Duck at Atascadero Lake
Since early January (at least), there’s been a lone male Wood Duck at Atascadero Lake that thinks it’s a mallard. I always see it in the company of a female Mallard. In fact, of the eight times I’ve seen it this year (just checked my eBird reports and shocked to see that it’s only 8), only once (Wednesday, https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/631317747) have I not seen it with the mallard. (That day, it was displaying and calling from the reeds about 10 feet away from me and another photographer.)
This morning, it was actually on the grass across the road from the lake, in company with the expected mallard and a couple other mallards, and it waddled across the road just like a mallard, and hung out very close by.

Is this a common thing? My experience with typical Wood Ducks is that they are very flighty and don’t allow close approach, and I don’t recall seeing one that acted so much like another species of duck.
