Aberrant Mallard? S Poland (1 Viewer)

[Max S.]

I'm pretty sure this is a Mallard but it's always good to have a confirmation. Would it also be possible to say what type of aberrancy this is? Found today in S Poland.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Yes, you are right with Mallard. Birds with (quite/nearly) uniform orange-brown body, pale grey tones to wing and back are regular. More rare is a black speculum, but I have seen a few.
I think most similar would be a female type Red-crested Pochard x Mallard hybrid, and I would like to know, if some of the above described features are indicative of RCP influence, as I have allways dismissed them as signs of farmyard/domesticated ancestry.

And if you look hard enough at the picture you can imagine this bird has a too broad/extensive dark cap at the head, but again head pattern in Mallard is variable...
Conclusion: I have seen similar birds before and allways identified them as Mallards, so your bird is a Mallard for me too.

 

[stevethehydra]

I've seen similar female Mallard types with domestic ancestry (aka "Manky Mallards"). A view of the bill would be useful for determining if it's just one of those or a hybrid - any colour other than yellow, orange or grey/black would trigger suspicion...

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Here are two similar Mallards:

https://flic.kr/p/2kt9LdG

https://flic.kr/p/2kt64PD

all: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmTK6FSx (Ziesar, NE-Germany, 17.01.2021)