Blue billed duck on local pond

[Yorkshirelass]

Please could some one help me identify this duck, most of the books, websites suggest Ruddy Duck but the plumage is wrong.

[diggleken]

hello yorkshirelass, welcome to WAB!
This is , I suspect , an escapee from a collection, if it was only on a small pond, its probably come , somehow, from a local wildfowl collection - but its a non-native and I think is Puna silver Teal, fom South America - Anas versicolor puna.
Quite different from Ruddy Duck and not in any british guide books, so you will have struggled!
Cheers
Ken

[RKB]

I agree, it's a Silver Teal, which has escaped form a wildfowl collection.

[NicolaB]

Could also be a Hottentot Teal, it's definitely an escapee from somewhere though!

[diggleken]

Hottentot is also similar I agree Nicola, but this bird is not dark enough generally and the wings are more brown than the green you would expect to see in Hottentot, but I dont give a fig really.................(joke)!
It never ceases to amaze me how much knowledge there is on WAB, for non-native stuff!
Cheers
Ken

[GME]

Puna Teal or Silver Teal? Aren't they very similar but different birds??

[GME]

I think I'd have to go with female Puna Teal btw. Def an escapee unless you took this at a WWT venue like Martin Mere, etc, which you don't say....

[GME]

Just had a look at some google images and I'm not 100%. The images of the Silver Teal show yellow on the bill near the head fading into blue, where the Puna images don't. Maybe someone with far greater foreign wildfowl knowledge than myself will be able to shed some light....

[diggleken]

There are 3 subspecies of this South american bird.
Northern silver teal (a v versicolor) is smallest, the southern silver teal (a v fratensis), is larger and darker.
The Puna silver teal ( a v puna) is the largest, with a much longer bright blue bill that lacks the orange base patch that the others have - and might be considered a seperate species by some.
The puna bird is a high altitude form from the Andes Puna area in chile, bolivia and peru.
the Northern version is found in the likes of brazil, uruguay, while the southern goes down to tierra del fuego.
Dont get me wrong, I'm no expert on these, but have some good ref books!
Hope this helps, and as ever, I could still be wrong..............
I'm happy with Puna though.
Cheers
Ken

[Yorkshirelass]

Thank you everyone who responded to my query. I have Googled both Silver Teal and Puna Teal and it has the head & bill of a Puna Teal but feathers of a Silver Teal. As it appears to be an escapee could it be a cross?