Miniature Mallards Yorks UK. (1 Viewer)

M

Mannix

Well-known member

• Nov 8, 2008

• #1

Hi, our local duck pond has recently got a couple of what look like miniature mallards. The male looks just like a very small mallard with a stubby little beak but the female looks nothing like a female mallard. I have taken a pic of the male along side another male mallard so you can see the difference. They both have yellow rings on their legs so I assume they are escaped birds but is there a seperate species of these birds or are they just bred that way for a private collection?

The third picture is also on the pond and is also very small at the side of mallards, is it a young mallard or something else?

 

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Bird Hard 2

Cynical Sceptic

• Nov 8, 2008

• #2

Freeky dudes those Mallards aren't they. They'll breed with anything, given half a chance. Anyway, I guess both the male and female are hybrids with something (maybe the male is a back-cross) and the female looks like there's more in there than just domestic duck. The third bird is a female Common Teal.

 

Jan-Paul Charteris

Sussex birder and budding moth enthusiast

• Nov 8, 2008

• #3

Agree with that. I think there is actually a breed of domestic duck with this dwarf appearance. The teal shows a face pattern that may suggest a Green-winged Teal, although obviously Eurasian Teal are variable. Could always read up on what the difference in speculum bordering is to make sure!

Jan

 

saluki

Well-known member

• Nov 8, 2008

• #4

Mannix said:

Hi, our local duck pond has recently got a couple of what look like miniature mallards. The male looks just like a very small mallard with a stubby little beak but the female looks nothing like a female mallard.

Click to expand...

The 'small mallard' are 'call ducks', a type of domestic mallard originally used to lure wild duck into duck decoys.

Jonathan

 

M

Mannix

Well-known member

• Nov 8, 2008

• #5

Thanks guys, I see teal almost every day of my life and never thought of that as it was on such a small village pond. If it was a green winged teal it would be my first. I will try to get a better pic tomorrow.

 

dantheman

Bah humbug

• Nov 8, 2008

• #6

Mannix said:

Thanks guys, I see teal almost every day of my life and never thought of that as it was on such a small village pond. If it was a green winged teal it would be my first. I will try to get a better pic tomorrow.

Click to expand...

Whether a Green-winged or an ordinary teal, you want to be a bit hesitant about ticking it off your list mind, given what else is present . . . ie not particularly wild . . .

 

M

Mannix

Well-known member

• Nov 8, 2008

• #7

dantheman said:

Whether a Green-winged or an ordinary teal, you want to be a bit hesitant about ticking it off your list mind, given what else is present . . . ie not particularly wild . . .

Click to expand...

Thanks Dan, but I'm not too strict with myself when it comes to jotting down the birds I see. I will never be trying to put my list against anyone elses to win any contests, and also if these birds are living outdoors and surviving on their own then to me they are as wild as any other bird.

 

Gentoo

Guest

• Nov 8, 2008

• #8

Gray Call Ducks they are. A diminutive domestic Mallard variety.

 

P

Peewit

Once a bird lover ... always a bird lover

• Nov 8, 2008

• #9

Hi Mannix

Interesting to see. There appears to be a few types of 'Call ducks' as you will see from the link

http://www.callducks.net/dusky_call_duck.htm

Information taken from the same link. (as Jonathan has mentioned in his posting)

Call ducks were originally known as Coy ducks or decoy ducks from the Dutch word de kooi meaning 'trap'. Willughby, writing in 1678, described how Coy ducks were used to catch wildfowl. The tame ducks were fed at the entrance to great traps constructed in the form of a 'pipe'. Wild fowl were enticed down by the quacking (calling) of the tame birds, and then caught and slaughtered for the commercial market. These early decoy ducks may not have been like the Dutch Call ducks we know today; they may have been decoys by training rather than breed.

I have to say like you, I have never heard of them before. We live and learn. :t:

 

Last edited: Nov 8, 2008