Glossary

Bean: The hard bump at the end of the bill.
Buffled: The fluffy feathers on the head of call ducks.
Caruncles: The fleshy face of a Muscovy duck.
Cloaca: The cavity just inside the vent in which the urinary tract, reproductive tract and digestive tracts meet.
Down: The fine coat of newly hatched chicks and the first layer of feathers that keeps ducks nice and cosy on cold water.
Drake: A male duck
Duck: Generic term for a member of the anatidae family. Can be used more specifically to refer to females.
Duckling: A small duck up to the age that it gets its first proper feathers.
Eclipse moult: The moult that happens at the end of the summer. For males this takes them from smart colourful feathers to drab camouflaged ones.
Egg tooth: A small pointy bit that sticks out from the end of the bill allowing a baby duck to crack its way out of an egg. It falls off within a few days of hatching.
Keel: What looks like a beer belly on some breeds of ducks! A big fold of skin.
Nail: See Bean
Nuptial moult: The moult that happens to males at the end of the winter taking them from drab camouflaged plumage to smart colourful feathers.
Pullet: A young female duck in her first year of egg production.
Roached back: A deformed back
Sport: A term meaning a mutant i.e. a white sport is a white bird of a breed that usually never has white ones.
Vent: The all purpose exit hole!