SwampTHING

Buddy shot this one yesterday when we were out hunting. Cool looking bird,, the tail area where the curls are is iredescent green.

MALLARDMAN21

thats a pretty sweet lookin duck its like the mix between a teal, hen mallard, and drake mallard. Get that thing mounted

SwampTHING

Ive seen one almost exactly like this one before..

From what ive been told,, its actually a very very old hen mallard. Once a hen mallard goes past breeding age it starts too revert into drake mallard characteristics. Its beak changes colours, it gets some green on the head and tail feathers, and it starts too produce curls on its tail.

This is what ive been told by some very very knowledgable people.. and yes he is definitely going to having it mounted!

swamp rooster

looks like a wigeon head an drake mallard body cross up ..

canis_lupus

killed one like that a few years ago .... congrats !

SwampCollie

I have seen ducks like that before as well. I have been told that they are black and mallard crosses by other hunters, but I disagree. I have seen a lot of black/mallard hybrids, and none of them look like that.

I don't know about the old mallard hen theory, never heard that take on it before.

Personally, I think it looks more like a widgeon/mallard than anything else. The other one I have seen (personally, then add this one on the web), had a bit more blue in the bill and the feet were more grey. Also had more red/auburn on the chest.

Have also heard gadwall/mallard before. Who knows...

SwampTHING

Here is a pic of the other duck I was referring too.. take a hard look at the bill.

drgildy

I have raised migratory waterfowl under a federal propagation permit for many years (over 40 years) and see this all the time. It is merely an immature drake mallard as evidenced by the short tail curls. Thegreen on the head comes in in different ways on different drakes.

SwampCollie

He's kind of a late bloomer ain't he? Do you think that it may be a young of the year bird that hatched late, or perhaps the product of a re-nest?? I've never seen a bird in eclipse (or anything close to it) after the season has started (bear in mind, I am in the south, my horizons are rather narrow).

duramaxnay6

The duck that Swampthing is holding is most likely is a really old hen mallard, or a hermaphrodite. My dad is a waterfowl biologist and has shot one of those before. When a hen mallard get's old, like in human, they stop producing as much female harmones and will take on male characteristics. You can tell by the bill that it is a hen mallard. The patch of green and the small curls are indications of male characteristics. It could also be, like stated above, a hermaphrodite where it has both male and female sex organs and will produce both characteristics of male and female sexes. Still, very unusual.

The firstmallard looks like a drake that doesn't have full plumage yet. If it were part Widgeon, there would be more characteristics of a wideon such as a blue bill or a white belly.

There was an interesting artical in the last DU magazine about cross breeds.