Hybrid(?) duck, Manchester UK (1 Viewer)

[stevethehydra]

Seen on 3rd November on the duck pond at Alexandra Park, Manchester. I have a few more photos but these are the best.

I think this has to be a hybrid, and it's fairly obvious that one parent is Mallard, but what is the other? It was distinctly smaller than wild-type Mallards, larger than Tufted Ducks - perhaps around Gadwall/Wigeon size. Structurally the most obvious thing that struck me about it was its disproportionately small head and bill (but not the "cutesy" stubby-billed look of "dwarfed" domestic breeds like Call Duck - more like if someone had attached the front end of a smaller duck to the back end of a bigger one!)

It doesn't seem to match any of the well-known Mallard hybrids with species like Teal, Gadwall, Wigeon, Pintail etc plumage-wise. The nearest I could find online (particularly for the flank pattern) was some of the examples here of Mallard x Spot-billed Duck Mallard x Indian Spot-billed Duck (and the bill is a bit similar to some of the more Spot-billed-like, perhaps backcrossed birds, although the head pattern is closest to the possible backcross to Mallard) - but Spot-billed is more or less identical to wild-type Mallard in size and structure. I can't find a smaller dabbling duck species which could also explain the flank pattern.

Any ideas?

 

[aeshna5]

I'm not convinced it is a hybrid. Suspect it's a domestic variant of Mallard.

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

I'm not convinced it is a hybrid. Suspect it's a domestic variant of Mallard.

I agree, although in some of the photos it does remind me very slightly of Maned Duck. However, I think any such resemblance is coincidence at most, and imaginative at best!

 

[stevethehydra]

I'm not convinced it is a hybrid. Suspect it's a domestic variant of Mallard.

I'm not totally ruling that out. But if it is one, it's a very unusual one. I've seen a lot of domestic/part-domestic/"manky" mallards in a lot of urban parks and this one stands out as very different in "jizz". Most domestic Mallard types that are smaller than wild-type Mallard have a very "chunky", stubby-billed look. This bird looked slim and "delicate" with an oddly small head/front end. The "curly tail" also seemed less curled than in a typical male Mallard (including all domestic types) .

 

[nartreb]

I agree this is an unusual combination of shape and size - and the bill pattern isn't common either - and the spotted flanks are interesting. If I were to reach for a non-mallard possible ancestor, I might consider a teal, but I can't find any examples of hybrids that look like this.

 

[raymie]

This doesn't look anything like any domestic Mallard I've ever seen - definitely Mallard x something.

 

[Earnest lad]

I wondered if there might be a bit of female wigeon in it LOL

 

[stevethehydra]

I wondered if there might be a bit of female wigeon in it LOL

Mallard x Wigeon hybrids look like this: Eurasian Wigeon x Mallard

 

[Butty]

This doesn't look anything like any domestic Mallard I've ever seen - definitely Mallard x something.

I strongly suspect that - like me and everyone else here - you haven't seen all the types of domestic mallard there are. Hence I fear that the latter part of your statement doesn't follow from the former part. No offence.

 

[stevethehydra]

As this is a popular park in a densely-populated area of a major city, I thought I'd try googling Alexandra Park and phrases like "hybrid duck", "unusual duck", etc to see if anyone else might have photographed this bird and posted anything online about it. I didn't see this bird itself, but did find this:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1025400293448671232

- so a few years ago there was a Spot-billed Duck, or possibly Spot-billed Duck x Mallard hybrid or backcross, on the same pond. Colouration-wise, I could see the offspring of a typical Mallard and the bird in that 2018 photograph looking like "my" duck - but that doesn't explain the size/structure issues...

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

The bird from Twitter is a spotbill x mallard mix , the other one you photographed , Steve, is a call duck mix .

Call ducks are a noisy dwarf breed of mallard with a shorter bill, which come in different colours, some examples here:

https://www.purelypoultry.com/bmz_cache/5/53cf9aaaba9a2da3b35eb817ea479054.image.550x550.jpg

https://www.shagbarkbantams.com/wp-content/uploads/snowm-300x209.jpg

https://domesticanimalbreeds.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/call-duck-1024x585.jpg

As it has some unusual traits like bill pattern and much white on outer vane of tertial feather it might involve some spotbill genes ... but I am not 100% sure .
I am also not sure if it is a male or a very extreme intersex plumaged female ? From the photos I get the impression it may have behaved like a female .

But there are certainly no wigeon genes in this bird...

 

[stevethehydra]

I've seen quite a few "Call Duck" types, and this bird struck me as structurally different - more "dainty", less of the "dwarfish" or almost "cartoon character" proportions. But that's subjective obviously...

I don't know if they are clear from these photos, but a couple of other traits that I thought could indicate hybrid origin:

• the "curly" tail coverts were present, but notably less curled than on other male Mallards
• the head wasn't as fully iridescent green, more blackish from some angles, and had patchy hints of a pattern similar to that in some Mallard x Teal, Mallard x Gadwall, etc hybrids (one of those Mallard x Spot-billed hybrids at that link was quite similar).

I did wonder about a very advanced "intersex"/masculinised female plumage. But again I don't think it looks that similar to other examples of that that I've seen...

 

[stevethehydra]

Compare and contrast this possibly intersex "Call Duck" type that I photographed in Leeds a few years ago: Odd domestic Mallard type (possible intersex), Leeds UK

 

[Butty]

the "curly" tail coverts were present, but notably less curled than on other male Mallards

I'm not clear how the presence of a feature of one species can suggest that there are genes of another species present.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

I've seen quite a few "Call Duck" types, and this bird struck me as structurally different - more "dainty", less of the "dwarfish" or almost "cartoon character" proportions. But that's subjective obviously...

I don't know if they are clear from these photos, but a couple of other traits that I thought could indicate hybrid origin:

• the "curly" tail coverts were present, but notably less curled than on other male Mallards
• the head wasn't as fully iridescent green, more blackish from some angles, and had patchy hints of a pattern similar to that in some Mallard x Teal, Mallard x Gadwall, etc hybrids (one of those Mallard x Spot-billed hybrids at that link was quite similar).

I did wonder about a very advanced "intersex"/masculinised female plumage. But again I don't think it looks that similar to other examples of that that I've seen...

yes that´s why I said that isn´t clearcut; it is certainly no "ordinary" call duck . But there is definitely call duck in the mix .

and as said before , there are also some traits that indicate there might be spotbill genes ...

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

I'm not clear how the presence of a feature of one species can suggest that there are genes of another species present.

It is rather typical in ducks of the " wider mallard lineage " ( including Mellers duck, the spotbills , the yellowbilled duck, the pacific black duck, american black duck, mottled duck, mexican duck etc) that tail curls are less "curled".

So the presence of the trait indicates that mallard is involved - however if the feathers are less rolled up than normal in a male mallard , this could indicate hybridisation with another (currless) species of that group.
so it is the "reduction " of the feature that suggests there are genes of another species present

This eastern spotbill x mallard

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-95AQ6TokFeU/WGM746aCJeI/AAAAAAAAMjA/vlv9GHB7kS0ajpdVry6PEq-Jtnn4Rec0QCLcB/s1600/IMG_5631%2527120311.jpg

this Indian spotbill x mallard

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u1N-q9y0RfM/U0xdjTFENwI/AAAAAAAACWg/lQdIp91MVn4/s1600/0368+Mallard+x+Spotbill%252C+Blakeney+Collection%252C+24-Nov-13+%2528B%2529+%25286%2529+L.JPG

this hybrid pacific black duck x mallard

https://cdn.download.ams.birds.cornell.edu/api/v1/asset/224013311/1800

may illustrate what is meant ...


The problem is that also in intersexes the curls can be less rolled up; and in some call duck linages that is also the cause

 

[Butty]

it is the "reduction " of the feature that suggests there are genes of another species present

... or that it has been reduced simply by selective breeding.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

... or that it has been reduced simply by selective breeding.

yes, as in some call duck lineages .

but this bird also has a marked yellow bill tip, more white than usual for mallard on the tertial edge and a paler brown breast.

Colorwise (except for the bill) this mallard x spotbill isn´t very different:

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-95AQ6TokFeU/WGM746aCJeI/AAAAAAAAMjA/vlv9GHB7kS0ajpdVry6PEq-Jtnn4Rec0QCLcB/s1600/IMG_5631%2527120311.jpg

Here is one that is more spotbill like, also in the bill
https://static.inaturalist.org/photos/116486797/large.jpeg

Additionally a mallard x spotbill hybrid has been seen on the same lake ...

therefore, while it is certain that a call duck was involved in the ancestry odd bird photografed by steve, it is possible that it also has some spotbill genes .
that is what I can say for identification of this strange duck thingy ,
but not more.

 

[stevethehydra]

I caught up with this little weirdo again a few weeks ago. I think he looks even more like a hybrid now (face pattern has become clearer, breast colour further from typical Mallard).

 

[nartreb]

I wouldn't put any weight on the breast color. I saw similar color on a domestic-ancestry duck recently. Actually there were three together with similarly orange breast, extending into the flanks. I almost mistook one of them for a northern shoveler. The funny thing is that one of them had a dainty call-duck bill but the other two had normal-sized bills. I snapped a few photos because they reminded me of this thread; I'll have to go looking for the photos.

Your bird still intrigues me, particularly its dramatic bill pattern that is different from anything I've ever seen, but does remind me of spot-billed duck. I think a hybrid is a possibility, but I don't see that the breast color supports it. Merely being different from wild-type is not enough to suggest a hybrid.
(On the other hand, I do not want to pretend I know anything about spot-bill hybrids. If it turns out they frequently have orange breasts, then we would be justified in looking twice at orange-breasted ducks to see if they had any other suggestive clues.)