Buff Orpington Mallard ? - Brampton, Ontario (1 Viewer)

[Potatoheaded Bobby]

Hope you can help. This duck has been on the lake (Professor's) for the last week. These shots where taken today.
It is hanging around with the Mallards on the lake and seems to be paired with a specific male.
I did a search and the only thing I can come up with is a cross between a domestic white and a Mallard. It is about the size of a female Mallard.
I thought it closely resembled a Buff Orpington.
Your input will be very much appreciated. Thanks

 

[nartreb]

This is a domestic mallard, and I think it's female. Its plumage bears a resemblance to the breed "Buff Orpington" (which itself is the result of cross-breeding Cayuga, Indian Runner, Aylesbury and Rouen, if Wikipedia is to be believed), but I don't think normally have such an orange bill. A cross between a Buff and a white domestic breed might look like this, but I think you can also get a similar look by crossing a white breed with a wild-type mallard.

 

[Butty]

Domestic duck. No way of knowing otherwise.

 

[Potatoheaded Bobby]

Thanks guys. Whatever it is, it's a nice looking duck in my opinion. If it is female , I hope it stays around to breed with the male it's hanging around with. Should be an interesting crop of ducklings.

 

[aeshna5]

Thanks guys. Whatever it is, it's a nice looking duck in my opinion. If it is female , I hope it stays around to breed with the male it's hanging around with. Should be an interesting crop of ducklings.

It is a female as males even in domestic breeds usually have the curly feathers near the tail.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

Domestic duck. No way of knowing otherwise.

To be more precise ...Probably NOT JUST A DOMESTIC DUCK, but more likely a mix

Shape is like wild mallard indicating that this is either one of the domestic races of mallard with an appearance close to the wild mallard , or it stems from a mix domestic x wild mallard...
This is problematic as the genetic purity (and adaption to environment) of wild mallard may be affected by frequent crosses with domestic ducks . A bigger problem in Europe than in North America , I think...

Buff Orpington ducks are larger than wild mallard and considerably fatter bodied :

https://livestockconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Buff-flock-1-of-1.jpg

the intersting thing is the altered body shape and the fact that the wings do not increase size like other body parts do. so these fat domestics are mostly flightless .

So here we can exclude a Buff Orpington as well as any other large bodied domestic breed of mallard ....

 

[Potatoheaded Bobby]

Joern - Thank you for the explanation. Very helpful.

 

[Butty]

a mix domestic x wild mallard...

...which cannot be distinguished, either in its origins or its genes, from a domestic duck. Hence it is, for any practical purpose, a domestic duck.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

...which cannot be distinguished, either in its origins or its genes, from a domestic duck. Hence it is, for any practical purpose, a domestic duck.

As far as I know, it is possible to distinguish on genetic level between domestic ducks, wild mallards and their crosses- same as in wolves, dogs and their crosses.

However, it seems nobody is doing that in mallards, while there is quite some research on that topic in wolves.

 

[Butty]

A domestic duck is any mallard which has - somewhere in its genotype, from a minute to a large extent - the results of selective breeding. Just from looking at, or even from genetically analysing, a given bird, it can never be known whether its progenitors bred in cages or in the wild, so... if a bird looks like a domestic duck (ie it's a mallard but not wild-type), it's just... a domestic duck.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

Well, that is your personal definition...and it simplifies things too much.

I would prefer the term "mallard with domestic duck genes" or something like that.


If using your definition generally , all North American black wolves like this individual

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Black_Canis_lupus.jpg

would be domestic dogs,

as the allele for black coloration came into the population from ancient interbreeding with domestic dogs several thousand years in the past....


I think however, we agree that frequent intogression from domestics into a wild species will cause problems...