Duck fine in the morning, dying by the fence when we got home. So...

[mrdelurk]

It was my favorite pet Muscovy (from 50), It ate and played fine in the morning; by the time we got back home from town, it was on the ground near the street fence, crumpled in a fetal position, with no signs of blood from a possible fight. In spite all attempts, it died an hour ago after thrashing for a while with difficulty to breathe. Upon death, his red face skin darkened super fast, and a yellowish liquid poured out from its beak. This is my first dying Muscovy so I don't know if this is normal?
I hate doing it, but would examining its stomach contents provide insight what killed it? A poisonous mushroom, or toad, or a rodent poisoned by the neighbor that crawled over to us, or a piece of rat poison from some loser street kids? Just so that I know what steps to take to minimize future duck losses. This duck will feel no pain anymore, I suppose...

 

[CHlCKEN]

Post-mortem symptoms mentioned are normal. You can send in for necropsy to determine cause of death if that is something you would like. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of possible causes for a sudden death, and without distinct external symptoms, it is hard to say from this what that could be.

 

[mrdelurk]

As we were burying the bird, my wife just told me we already lost a Muscovy drake a few months ago. Its face did not turn black like this, nor it dripped a blood like substance a day after its demise.
Instead of embedding directly post-mortem duck images that may shock readers, I'll post just links where you can see them - if you want to.
Blackened duck head - A view of the tongue - Same duck a month ago

 

[Jenbirdee]

I’m so sorry for your loss I hope whatever it was doesn’t happen again.

 

[ruthhope]

It's so sad to lose one of our ducks: we all feel your pain. Sorry for your losses. There is no way we can know what happened without an autopsy. I have never [as yet] gone for an autopsy. I just bury the duck with dignity ensuring a heavy rock over the burial to stop scavengers

 

[mrdelurk]

There is no way we can know what happened without an autopsy.

I'll repost what the local experts at the University replied when I asked if they can do a necropsy to test for poisoning:
"Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, the University doesn't offer a [poisoning detection] service."
"You might not necessarily find [a toxin] in the stomach content of the bird, unless they ate a lot of it and died shortly after consuming it. Their gizzard does a great job of grinding things up so if it lived for a couple of hours after ingesting any toxin, you may not be able to detect it with the naked eye. "

We found a dead cane toad (poisonous even as a tadpole) by the pond with a missing leg and eye, that may have been it. Or who knows. I gave the duck Vitamine K, (20 emptied softgels, squirted into his beak with a needle-less syringe) but it did not save it.
At the duck lied in my arms, dying, I walked around the yard with it for a last time, so it can say bye to his friends. And they can see what happened. We might not know what he ate, but they do, I wanted to make sure no bird repeats it.

 

[ruthhope]

Maybe it was that cane toad. I hope the rest of the flock stsy clear of them. Such a shame that such a toxic animal has invaded south Florida.