male gadwall and female mallard (1 Viewer)

marnixR

WYSIWYG

• Mar 23, 2017

• #1

a few days ago i saw a male gadwall seemingly escorting a female mallard (although there also appeared to be a male mallard nearby) in one of the waterways near Arundel castle

is there a possibility of a cross-species pairing, and if that's the case, why did the male mallard not seem to mind ?

 

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Nutcracker

Stop Brexit!

• Mar 23, 2017

• #2

Yep, look out for hybrid ducklings later in the year! Though of course most ducklings don't survive to maturity.

The other drake Mallard may well have its own mate elsewhere, perhaps already sitting on eggs.

 

marnixR

WYSIWYG

• Mar 23, 2017

• #3

glad I wasn't imagining things after all
is it practically a rule of thumb that hybrid ducklings have a poor survival record + why might that be ?

 

Corvus cornix

Well-known member

• Mar 23, 2017

• #4

I think it's more a case that many ducklings (not just hybrids) fail to reach maturity. They're very easy targets for a range of predators as well as disease, starvation etc

Cheers

 

Nutcracker

Stop Brexit!

• Mar 24, 2017

• #5

marnixR said:

is it practically a rule of thumb that hybrid ducklings have a poor survival record + why might that be ?

Click to expand...

Corvus cornix said:

I think it's more a case that many ducklings (not just hybrids) fail to reach maturity. They're very easy targets for a range of predators as well as disease, starvation etc

Cheers

Click to expand...

Yep - Corvus cornix is right (often because Corvus cornix eats a lot of them :-O)

Once a duck reaches adulthood, it'll typically live 10-15 years, and produce 10 ducklings per year. So either, there's a huge explosion in duck numbers, or else 98% of the ducklings don't reach maturity. It is of course the latter.

 

dantheman

Bah humbug

• Mar 24, 2017

• #6

But aren't hybrids often infertile, and can have other problems too?

There's hybrid vigour ... but also this -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outbreeding_depression