Ponce de León, whose full name may be Juan Ponce de León, is a male anthropomorphic grebe.
Description[]
A Spanish explorer and conquistador in the 16th century, Ponce de León was also a distant relative of the Duck family. Between 1512 and 1513, De León and his troops scoured the swamps of Florida for the legendary Fountain of Youth. De León himself never found it, but only missed it by a hair, as two of his men did find it… and ended up stranded there.
Behind the scenes[]
Based on the historical figure, Ponce de León was first mentioned in Disney media in the 1945 Mystery of the Swamp.
A flashback shows Ponce de León in That's No Fable!, where he is also noted by Elvira Duck to be a distant relative of the Duck family. In spite of the latter claim, De León is depicted as some sort of hook-beaked bird, possibly a parrot. The best way to reconcile these facts is to assume Ponce de León's relation to the Ducks is through Gretchen Grebe, who is living proof that anthropomorphic grebes can have hooked beaks like De León's.