Wascana's Romeo and Juliet capture birders' attention with improbable love story

A male wood duck is catching birders' eyes around Regina's Wascana centre not just for his striking good looks, but for his amorous ways.

His actions as one half of an aquatic pair of star-crossed lovers have earned him the nickname Romeo.

"It's very unusual for wood ducks to stay in Saskatchewan for the winter. They migrate south," says local bird enthusiast and amateur photographer Hanna Walczykowski.

"But then we noticed he has a best friend a mallard."

The wood duck commonly rates among the most promiscuous of waterfowl, but Romeo has proven to be a more faithful sort.

For the past four or five years, local birders have seen him stay faithfully by the female mallard's side. Walczykowski said he seems "protective" of the mallard nicknamed Juliet going so far as to chase away other ducks.

"It's quite amazing to observe that couple actually," she said.

Listen to The Morning Edition's interview about the unusual relationship between a mallard and a wood duck:

Walczykowski believes it to be the same pair meeting each year, based on her photos and observations, but neither has been banded, so it's not a given. Perhaps the biggermystery, though, is whether the pair have had offspring.

The wood duck is known to have crossbred with as many as 20 other duck species, so it's not out of the question, but Walczykowski says so far, no one has spotted them with young.

It's just one more reason to keep her eyes open and fixed on nature.

"It's kind of like a love story, to us," she says, noting Romeo seems to persist through what is an inhospitable winter for most of his kind.

"Maybe the reason he stays here, it was actually falling in love with her."