First spring outing in the kayak: Who can identify these ducks??

Miraculously we hit 70 degrees on Sunday and out came the kayaks!

I live in central Massachusetts and not that long ago we were buried under over 4 feet of snow. Even though the front walkway, the deck and the back half of the driveway have been clear for a few weeks now, I still expect to walk out my door to huge snow mounds.

Finally, we are into the warm weather: grass turning green, red buds on the maples, spring peepers singing at night and the robins greeting the dawn. And it’s actually becoming light at 5:45 am! My favorite season of the year.

The Blackstone and Quinsigamond rivers run through my hometown of Grafton and water levels are high. Rich and I kayaked on Lake Ripple which has a dam and other smaller waterfalls:

The thrill of the day was this duck sighting:

These ducks were very accommodating; I was able to watch them for a long while. They even got out of the water and walked on a nearby lawn. Waddling around they looked comical, quite the contrast from their elegance in the water.

But I have yet to identify them! I am thinking the grey one with the tuft on the head is a female and either a Hooded or Common Merganser. I believe the second duck is a male Common Merganser as the head is actually dark green. There appears to be a yellow eye ring. No clue at all regarding the third duck who was totally black!

If any of you out there know your ducks and can identify them, please leave a comment and let me know. Are they migrants passing through or native to central Massachusetts?

Thanks for your help! Whether or not I find out what they are, it was a wonderful day out on the water in early spring.

Addendum: Mystery solved. Someone from the The Great Backyard Bird Count Facebook group said they are domestic mallards. She wrote further, “The one with the puffy head is a crested mallard – that’s a genetic deformity that’s been bred into them. Note the different colors and patterns and long bodies, characteristics of domestic mallards. Hooded mergansers are short-bodied and compact, and all mergansers have very distinctive, saw-toothed bills.”