Duck, Spain (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

could you tell me which duck is this one? It was with a group of mallards, but the bill was completely blue-grey. Can it be a mallard as well?

Thanks.

Pancho85 said:

Hi all,

could you tell me which duck is this one? It was with a group of mallards, but the bill was completely blue-grey. Can it be a mallard as well?

Thanks.

View attachment 645894

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Was it the same general size and shape as Mallard? Not the easiest angle to make a sound judgement on a lone bird...

It is a mallard. bluegrey is possible, though not that common, in this species.

Joern Lehmhus said:

It is a mallard. bluegrey is possible, though not that common, in this species.

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Due to past hybridisation with Pintail - my local park had an escaped pinioned Pintail which produced one F1 hybrid with Mallard, and this then subsequently several generations of otherwise typical Mallards except for blue-grey bills.

not necessarily due to hybrididsation with pintail , I think. certainly that can lead to that outcome as you describe (also hybridisation with Pacific black duck in NZ leads to some mallardlike bluebilled birds among avariety of others)

But there are domestic breeds that have a bluegrey bill also
http://www.chickensforbackyards.com/images/Khaki Campbell 3.jpg

and I suspect it is therefore also in the variability of mallard to throw up a bird with bluegrey bill.
(I seem to remember the yellow in the male mallard bill is just due to carotenoids being deposited there and otherwise the bill would be bluegrey? if that´s the case also for the orange of female birds, one mutation may be enough?)