As I was skinning a Barrows Golden Eye today I took note on how little fat there was and how thin the skin was compared to a Mallard.
Since this is only my third duck the other two were dabblers I wondered if this is common between the two types of ducks?
Also comming from one who likes to fly fish I thought it interesting that it's neck was full of Cased Caddis larvae.
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Each duck is its own creature and they vary even among species. Though lead poisoning is devastating, I have to admit a macabre love of ducks that have it coming into the shop. One #4 lead shot stuck in a gizzard produces a duck with an exposed breastbone and almost not a single scrap of fat on the skin. Sure makes degreasing them a breeze. We see it in all species here on the Delmarva peninsula.
Tim, I think what you are going to discover is that Diver ducks actually have thicker and tougher skin than dablers. What is the decieveing facter is prime puddle ducks, especially Mallards get a thick coat of fat. This makes the skin appear thicker. When the fat is removed the skin is actually very thin. The problem lies in the fact that this skin is vewry delicate and sometimes hard to work with.
The skin on divers is sometimes harder to remove, but really no problem.
Tony
I have seen this lack of fat in freshly migrated ducks. Some so tired that they could hardly move out of the boats path. They few that would move into the set would not even fly off. Nearly all the ducks that day lacked and fat.
Just remember the are like people, some are naturallyfat and some are not. Then there are those freshlymigrated ducks that may be void of of any fat.