Identification Help Needed for Pale Duck in Michigan, USA (1 Viewer)

[zerb21]

I saw this unknown pale duck in North Hydro Park that's located in southeast Michigan, USA on February 10, 2022. It was swimming in the Huron River with other ducks that included Mallards, American Black Ducks, Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, Common Goldeneyes, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, and a female Northern Pintail. It looked just a bit smaller than the Mallards that were near it. Thank you for any help identifying it.

 

[Rotherbirder]

Looks like a duck Mallard exhibiting aberrant plumage.

RB

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello Bruce,
still looks like an abearrantly coloured Mallard to me. They come in a large variety of colours and patterns.
You can find many examples here on birdforum.

 

[Butty]

Domestic duck.

 

[nartreb]

Yup, female mallard with much paler plumage than wild-type, almost certainly due to domestic ancestry. (Pale, leucistic, and albino birds do occur in the wild, but I reckon this bird isn't one of those. I'm pretty sure that to get mostly white plumage but a relatively dark head and breast, and some color in the wings, you've got to have lots of genetic changes from wild-type, which suggests sustained domestic breeding.)

 

[KC Foggin]

Yup, female mallard with much paler plumage than wild-type, almost certainly due to domestic ancestry. (Pale, leucistic, and albino birds do occur in the wild, but I reckon this bird isn't one of those. I'm pretty sure that to get mostly white plumage but a relatively dark head and breast, and some color in the wings, you've got to have lots of genetic changes from wild-type, which suggests sustained domestic breeding.)

I agree.