Duck, Austria, 24.04.2020 (1 Viewer)

[Bitis]

Hello,

today a duck got me a little confused. At first I thought it is a female Garganey - light throat, supercilum and spot behind the bill; no blue in the wing. Also it was quite smaller than the drake Mallard it was swimming with.
But it has an orange bill. So I guess it is "just" a Mallard? I guess it would be a last years bird?

Thanks in advance!

 

[THE_FERN]

Hello,

today a duck got me a little confused. At first I thought it is a female Garganey - light throat, supercilum and spot behind the bill; no blue in the wing. Also it was quite smaller as the drake Mallard it was swimming with.
But it has an orange bill. So I guess it is "just" a Mallard? I guess it would be a last years bird?

Thanks in advance!

Looks like female mallard to me. The bill spot isn't clear or pronounced, there's no whitish chin* and the face pattern is very different to garganey IMHO.

[Edit *the chin is lighter in colour but as with the bill spot, this isn't a pronounced white as on garganey]

 

[Bitis]

Thanks a lot for your reply, Mallard it is

Is it normal for a Mallard to have a black/grey speculum? Is this an age related thing? (same bird in the pic)

 

[THE_FERN]

Thanks a lot for your reply, Mallard it is

Is it normal for a Mallard to have a black/grey speculum? Is this an age related thing? (same bird in the pic)

It's not black/grey. That's due to the ambient light and the interference of the reeds. Towards the right you can see a small patch of blue - indicative of the true colour

 

[Bitis]

Thanks for your reply. Must have been the light then! I was just confused because I also saw it in flight and the speculum definetly appeared grey/dark. But it was a pretty overcast day, that might explain it.

Thanks again!