Cul de canard

Cul De Canard (CDC) (French for "Duck bottom") are the feathers from the back of the of a duck directly around the preen gland; they are very buoyant due too preen oil prduced by the preen gland. They are used when tying dry flies for fly fishing. They owe their buoyancy to their proximity to the ducks preen gland which secretes an oil distributed by the duck as a cleaning and waterproofing measure. It is unnecessary for the angler to add additional oil by way of floatant. Flies incorporating CDC are easy to dress requiring no floatant and popular with anglers and trout alike.