Hybrid duck?

[Africa]

I went to my local pond today. It was nice to see most male mallards showing off their fresh bright plumage, aren't they beautiful birds? I was nicely surprised by the all green one pictured in the photo. It still looks a bit scruffy, but it will probably get better. Some of the ducks seem a bit slow moulting. Going to the point, you see the little duck at the left of the image? Tiny beak, and quite unusual markings. It even seemed to have a little 'crest' at the back of the head. Both ducks seemed to like each other company despite being so different, and went together everywhere. Any ideas as to the identity of the little duck?

[valleyforge]

Originally Posted by Africa

Any ideas as to the identity of the little duck?

Wigeon perhaps?

[Picidae]

Best I can come up with is a mallard Call Duck type

http://www.spaniorumwaterfowl.co.uk/...roup%20web.JPG

doesn't look like any wild duck species that I can think of (or any wild hybrid either) but then ducks aren't my speciality particularly!

[thebeard]

looks a bit like a gadwall in the face but the plumage is not right at all

[Adam Cheeseman]

The head shape is distinctly Wigeon-esque, but what the hybrid combination is (if it actually comprises Wigeon) is beyond me.

Chers,

Adam

[Picidae]

I'm pretty convinced this is a domestic call duck now having googled more images. It's definitely not a Wigeon/Wigeon hybrid imo. The fact it was following around another domestic Mallard on a local pond would point very strongly to another domestic type rather than some kind of wild breed I would have thought.

Difficulty with identifying domestic ducks is they come in all shapes and sizes with an enormous variety of plumage. Often the plumage doesn't fit with the 'standard' breed either since there's so much cross breeding, especially if crossed with other Mallard types which are also the result of cross breeding. However, the duck in the pic shows the dark edged mantle feathers that I've seen before on dusky/silver/apricot type call ducks as well as the small round compact shape with short bill, typical of many domestic call duck breeds.

'Odd ducks' on local ponds are more likely to be domestic varieties than hybrid wild species (which tend to be far less common than people think.)

[epops]

looks like one of the bibbed call ducks i had some similar (till a mink came along) but they were more of an apricot colour

[Picidae]

“Manky Mallards” (domestic, feral, or just plain odd Mallards)

You could try emailing the pic to Charlie, I'm sure he'd be able to help you

''Please email them to charlie10000birds - AT - gmail.com saying where and when they were taken and any links/credits etc you’d like. I can take large file sizes, but if you could please re-size them down to 600px width that would be very helpful. Many thanks''

[Africa]

Wow! thank you everybody for your help. I am most than satisfied now it is a call duck. They look like cute miniature mallards. Is is possible 'call' and normal size ducks can be in the same clutch? I remembered this spring there was a group of 5 normal size ducklings with 2 tiny ones following the same female. It got me thinking...

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by Africa

. They look like cute miniature mallards. Is it possible 'call' and normal size ducks can be in the same clutch?

Entirely possible given the sometimes apparent random nature of genetic phenotypes amongst same mixed-parent clutches (Check out Mendel!) . Not only will 'Wild' domestic Mallards breed with many other wild duck species but cross breeding (deliberately by owners in captive situations or otherwise) among Mallard 'types' is very common. All domestic ducks other than Muscovy are descendant from wild Mallards which makes them particularly prone to 'playing the field' as it were and phenotypic characteristics of either parent could well be missing altogether or skip a few generations and produce the characteristics of a grandparent! (That's the extend of my A Level Biology in a nutshell!)