Ebony and Ivory

There is a small island about a half-mile up river from my residence that is the year-around home to a couple dozen mallard ducks.

Two of the ducks stand out. One is a pure white domestic duck. She seldom is more than a few feet from her lifelong mate -- a black-bodied domestic duck whose green head shows color in the right light. I have marveled at the two for a few years.

Ebony and Ivory, I call them. I have canoed past these ducks for a few years. They aren't shy.

Now I could get philosophical and wax on about birds of a different feather -- or people, for that matter. Or we could have a little fun observing ducks with interesting and unusual "paint jobs."

I choose fun.

White, large-bodied domestic ducks are a derivative of the mallard, which is the most abundant duck in the world. There are an estimated 10 million mallards in North America, and they also are common in Europe and Asia.

Mallards interbreed often with domestic ducks and also with some wild species, such as the American black duck or northern pintail.

The hybrids the mallards produce are a hoot. The mixed offspring usually retain the wide body of the domestic, and their plumage forms some of the most unusual collection of colors and patterns found in nature.

Their paint jobs are unique and distinctive. You don't see two identical hybrids very often. They are individuals.

Outdoor Indiana wants to honor these natural misfits by sponsoring the first-ever Ugly Duckling Photo Contest.

There aren't many rules.

Send us a photographic print or slide of the goofiest looking duck you have ever seen. We want to see feathers with silly patterns, ducks with unnatural plumage, generally odd looking mallard hybrids.

Don't send photos or slides you want back. We'll keep them to chuckle over this winter.

The Outdoor Indiana staff will pick the winner. We haven't developed criteria upon which to judge the contest, and I don't think we will. The winner probably will be the duck that looks the goofiest and generates the most grins.

The photo of the winning duck gets published in this magazine and a free, one-year subscription of Outdoor Indiana magazine will be mailed to the person or organization of the photographer's choice.

With your entry, include your name, home town, age (only if you are still in school), and where you photographed the ugly duck.

Celebrate nature in all its confusion. Mail your entries by November 1 to:

Outdoor Indiana
Ugly Duckling Photo Contest
402 West Washington W255b
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Stephen Sellers, editor