Unknown duck??pt2

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Spotted this yesterday, when i turned up there where around a dozen small ducks that took off, a couple returned later. I'm afraid this is the best shot i could get



Any help?

[artdemole]

Could be Mallard....

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Originally Posted by artdemole

Could be Mallard....

the one in the back is, the one in the front is half the size of a mallard

[Gatekeeper]

It looks like a female/juvenile Teal.

[captaincarot]

Originally Posted by Gatekeeper

It looks like a female/juvenile Teal.

as long as that white bum is just burned out due to over exposure then i'd agree

[RobS]

Not sure if you know this, but if you press and hold 'CTRL' and the press '+' a couple of times you can enlarge the screen quite substantially. Zooming in my vote would be for a Teal. If you do this you can return to normal size by pressing 'CTRL' and '-' in a similar manner

Rob S

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Thanks, i was thinking Teal or Garganey

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by captaincarot

as long as that white bum is just burned out due to over exposure then i'd agree

I agree with Common Teal in female 'type' plumage.
It's actually not unusual for Teal in female/juvenile plumage to show a white undertail - but their will almost always be dark markings as well (not necessarily visible in a distant shot like this). Interestingly, this one also shows a faint stripe across the lower cheek, reminiscent of Garganey - the face pattern is not strong enough for Garganey though, and the pale spot at the base of the bill is clearly lacking (some Teal do have a stripe across the cheek).

Originally Posted by Lincs Yellowbelly

the one in the back is, the one in the front is half the size of a mallard

This does not rule out Mallard completely - 'call ducks' are small breeds of domestic Mallards, which can be half the size of normal Mallards (and other breeds of domestic Mallard can appear twice as big as normal birds!).