urban trees + project kvetching

I've got these sets of pictures of trees in the city. All I have to do know is identify them, and I'll have some ammo for my 365us project (the project that ATE MY MIND). I really hate the winter, and trying to find and photograph a different species and write about it every day is not making me like it any more. I need to make better use of my non-work time (I can't do much before and after work because it's too dark--I can't do much at work because many of the species I see there aren't urban), maybe make a special trip this Sunday to find species to photograph.

( On with the trees--whatever they are. )

365 Urban Species. #024: American black duck

American Black Duck Anas rubripes

This unassuming bird is easily mistaken for a female mallard. To be able to notice black ducks on a pond covered with mallards is a good goal for beginning urban nature lovers. American black ducks are darker, all over, than mallards, though not truly black. The speculum (literally: window) or colored part of a mallard's wing is blue edged with white--on a black duck it is blue-violet with no white edge. Unfortunately this detail is not always visible.

Before being overhunted in the mid-1800s (after huge increases in human population but before protective legislation) there were more American black ducks in North America than any other duck species. They are less tolerant of human changes to the environment than mallards, but are still found in some cities year-round. We see them more often in winter, when migrants take advantage of unfrozen urban waters. Some are concerned that American black ducks may be declining further, due to hybridization with mallards.