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Unidentifiable duck (1 Viewer)

M

mfineman

New member
Hi, Folks,
I'm not a knowledgeable birder, and I'm having trouble identifying some ducks that have appeared on the small lake behind my house in northern NJ. There are three males--iridescent green back of head and down neck. White on throat and chest. Brownish side feathers with white wing tips. Tail feathers appear darker brown. Yellow bill. There were one or two females a couple of weeks ago but haven't seen them lately.

This picture doesn't add up to anything I see in the field guides. Any ideas?

Thanks very much. It's driving me nuts!
 
The yellow bill is pretty much unique to the male Mallard Duck, which also does have a green head.
Unfortunately, the rest of the description does not fit.
However, Mallards are famous for breeding with gay abandon, irrespective of species, so you may have a small group of hybrids. If you can get pictures, someone might be able to identify the parentage more completely.
 
mfineman said:
Hi, Folks,
I'm not a knowledgeable birder, and I'm having trouble identifying some ducks that have appeared on the small lake behind my house in northern NJ. There are three males--iridescent green back of head and down neck. White on throat and chest. Brownish side feathers with white wing tips. Tail feathers appear darker brown. Yellow bill. There were one or two females a couple of weeks ago but haven't seen them lately.

This picture doesn't add up to anything I see in the field guides. Any ideas?

Thanks very much. It's driving me nuts!
Click to expand...
Those are almost certainly domestic mallards, presumably with some "bibbed" breed such as the Swedish blue in their recent family history. Just about any poultry farm's website will help identify such birds. (See, for example, https://www.purelypoultry.com/waterfowl-c-256.html). When you see a strange duck, especially one on a small lake in northern NJ, think domestic mallard first, not hybrid.
 
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