He handed me a medium-sized duck with an iridescent green and chestnut colored head, gray body and large feathers coming off the wings close to the body. I certainly had never seen a duck like it before, so I dug out my picture book of Waterfowl of the World and identified it as a falcated duck (Anas falcata).
The only problem was that this species of duck is native to eastern Asia and breeds in Siberia and China. WTF was it doing in South America, east of the Andes?
After I got back to the US, I contacted the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Ducks Unlimited's office in Memphis, and the Wildlife Department at Louisiana State University. No one really could conceive that this duck had flown across the Pacific and the Andes mountains and taken up residence in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. They all concluded that the bird had been raised in captivity from an egg and escaped. Nevertheless, it was the first report of a wild Falcated duck ever in Argentina.
In case anyone thinks this is just a BS hunting story, here's the actual duck mounted on the wall of my living room:
