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It's a good article. Well worth the time to read it.
Found- Some real talent on BYC Duck Forum
There is a great thread on BYC -Duck Forum on the subject of Muscovy ducks; the Miskito/Mosquito/Muscovy Duck by Resolution. Not for show people, or even heritage bird people. A fairly convincing theory of how they came to be, with some very great photos that he collected off the internet. Also he explains how he broods a Muscovy duckling that is different than anything I have seen before that he claims minimizes the wet/poopy/stinky mess that they normally make. Clint (old timers do you remember Clint the professional wild waterfowl person in La, doesn't come around much anymore?) is adding comments so I think the theories are reasonable. For all I know he may be well known in the waterfowl and rare chicken community. Evidently he moved out of VT to CO and is AKA as Taft Hill Farm of Ouray County, Colorado. I think you can read the thread of 40+/- posts without signing up over there if you refuse to support the site.
(The goosedragon is on the warning list, one more before I am banned. ~gd)
It's a good article. Well worth the time to read it.
I've run into this guy before. He seems to frequent novice sites such as BYC where he can attempt to impress those who don't know any better, with his bombastic writing and sensational theories, all without reference. I've seen him here once or twice, I believe, maybe on the old format. I suspect that he couldn't find a willing partner in the moderators here, so didn't stick around long when it was clear that people here who know domestic poultry could see right through him. In typical BYC fashion, he finds a willing imbecile of a moderator who falls for his tales and wished to believe them, so she excludes all other points of view. The funny thing is, I presume that the one who simply questioned him for references to his theories, A Dr Todd, is the eminent Dr Frank S Todd, famous wild waterfowl researcher. Isn't it classic BYC ignorance for a moderator there to ignore such a man in favor of one with fantastical claims? This Resolution AKA Kermit Blackwood, among many other aliases, I've seen make claims that he's descended both from Egyptian royalty and Teddy Roosevelt. I've seen him claim to own ranches or zoos in CA, VT, Egypt and a few other places that I can't remember. He also claims to hang around with unnnamed Hollywood starlets, including Halle Berry, the one name that he does drop frequently. Whenever simply questioned about his theories, he quickly becomes defensive, and labels the questioner a troll. At one point he claimed to be working on a new monograph of the pheasants, complete with more fantastical claims about their relationships that other researchers don't understand, as near as I can tell. I've seen him claim to be easily breeding pheasant species which are generally considered unavailable in the US, and when they are, almost impossible to breed. He was also supposedly working on several obscur chicken breeds supposedly originating in the south Pacific or Polynesian islands or some such place. Of course they were descended from jungle fowl species other than the red jungle fowl, and so had some mysterious missing link between most current breeds and their wild ancestors. All had names that I've never heard of. He's famous for that as well, coming up with terms or names of breeds or species which no one has ever heard of before. Well, surely the Muscovy has different names in different languages, but why attempt to confuse the issue, unless just to try to distinguish yourself? When questioned for pictures of his birds, I've never seen him come through, but he's famous for posting numerous, very nice albeit, photos of species that he's found on the internet. So he has come up with a novel, if needlessly complicated method of rearing muscovy ducklings, and this time has provided photos which don't seem to be taken by others. So what? Was there a problem with the way most of us have done it all along? As near as I can tell, his only credentials that I can believe are that he attended some obscur, liberal "alternative" college in VT, and then stayed on for a time as a teaching assistant. I'm guessing that you won't like my take on this issue either Bob, but just like the Anconas, all I ask is a little proof when someone makes a claim, a simple reference or two. As a former scientist yourself, I'm surprised that you don't understand that. Yes, this guy has talent alright, just not the type that I'm interested in.
I'm with you on this one Patrick. I find his smoke screen disturbing. Typical of BYC...but still disturbing. When asked to site his sources, he deflects. I see this a lot on my farm site forum. If he can't site his sources, he has no credibility...which explains why he does not post here.Originally Posted by Patrick
Last edited by Angela; 08-03-2011 at 03:31 PM. Reason: tweeking the quote....
" I presume that the one who simply questioned him for references to his theories, A Dr Todd, is the eminent Dr Frank S Todd, famous wild waterfowl researcher. Isn't it classic BYC ignorance for a moderator there to ignore such a man in favor of one with fantastical claims?" Fantistic claims? Does Dr. Todd really live in the central reagion of Antarctica? because the one that you presume to be real sure claims that, there is too much BS for Patrick to stand but he presumes the real Dr. Todd posts on BYC? ROTFLMAO! BE SMUG Patrick but this time you put your foot in it!
None the less, a very nice collection of stolen photos.
I'll give him one thing, at least he's not claiming that they're his anymore. In the past I've seen him insinuate that they were, and when questioned, resort to the same avoidance techniques.
And I could be wrong, it happened once before, but irregardless of who the poster is who asked for references, they still weren't provided. Even a nobody like me should be able to be shown references when a claim is made, or else the guy has no credibility, like the lady said.
I am CERTAIN that DrTodd isn't Frank...I'm not certain DrTodd isn't as full of it as alot of the others...I'm not certain he even keeps birds from some of his comments. Kermit did give Grays mongraph on Avian Hybrids and Delacour's Waterfowl of the World as his references....which is ALOT more than most there, or here do.
Clint
Thanks for the input Clint Now I don't feel so bad about being taken in by this Kermit. I guess his real talent is BS? I doubt that anyone noticed that I used a bunch of hedge words in the original post. ~gd
Don't mix things up. DrTodd, isn't Frank Todd, and he's who I was refrring to about maybe not keeping birds. Kermit posts some interesting ideas, and does provide some documentation. Both Gray and Delacour, which Kermit gave as references are a bit dated and wouldn't be my choice for references, but it's better that what one usually sees (i.e. some website). I actually enjoy reading his stuff because it makes me think a little, and that's better than most posts.
With muscvies, I'm not sure there is such a thing as the wild bird. They;'ve been domesticated so long that there must have been continuous genetic exchange. A wild muscovy duckling should look similar to a mallard duckling (look in Colleen Nelson's book on Downy young of North American Waterfowl). When the Wildfowl Trust obtained wild-caught muscovies from Brazil in the 1950's, by the second generation they had ducky ducklings showing up in broods and variable amounts of white. I would guess they're a lot like mallards and rouens, and there isn't a clear distinction between a domestic mallard and a wild mallard.
Clint
Well, he does make me think also, but not quite in the same way as you. I've seen enough sensational claims, avoidance techniques and aggressive attacks on those who simply disagree or question him, for me to treat as suspect anything that he has to say, even if he may be right occasionally. If he did supply the references, I missed them, as I try not to waste too much time on anything he has to say any more. You can only cry wolf so much.
I don't think that the issue was the purity of wild muscovies, but rather that the domestic may be a previously unrecocognized hybrid with a species which has until now not been generally considered to contribute to it's makeup.
We don't often discuss wild species here, but I've always been willing to provide references for any of my statements which I don't claim as opinion.
I agree that it is laughable that Frank Todd would stoop to posting on BYC, and it surprised me that it could be him, but Resolution has had such outlandish claims before, that it wouldn't surprise me if people did seek to set the record straight, wherever he may be. Along the same reasoning, if he's such an expert, why is he spending time on BYC?
I am glad I found this thread. You couldn't run fast enough to give me a Muscovy duck but I like to read about everything.
I hang out on the GBWF forum and this guy Resolution is all over it and y'all have pretty much confirmed what I suspected.
I can pretty much ignore most self promoting Internet experts but he is hard to get away from. The amount of time and energy that he puts into his manifestos is amazing.
Real nice collection of pictures though
I read the thread... I suspect Resolution and DrTodd are the same person. Oh an for the record... His comments on botulism in the ducks water and mess in the brooder made me chuckle a bit. But he's the expert!
To much smoke.... I'll stand by my original comments.
Sadly, he sounds almost credible....ALMOST
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