Large hybrid(?) duck, London today (1 Viewer)

[aliborb]

Another puzzle here, saw a large (doubleish the size of a Mallard) duck today in London. It had a dark greenish tail which made me think Mallard hybrid but I'm not too sure!

 

[Butty]

Domestic mallard x muscovy duck hybrid.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

Yes, that`s what it is.

Bu the bird left to it partly obscured by the branches of a shrub of the genus Cornus , is also a hybrid , I think? And if so, a more interesting one.

do you have any more photos of that one ???

 

[aliborb]

Interesting, here are a couple more. There were lots of pochards and tufted ducks in the area

 

[stevethehydra]

The right bird is a classic mallard x Muscovy hybrid. The left one... from the first photo I thought it was just one of those urban Mallards with a bluish bill (I see these a lot and am never sure if it is indicative of domestic ancestry or just a hormone/nutrition/etc thing) but from the other photos it does look intriguing - head seems more brown/bronze than green, there doesn't seem to be a neck ring, and (while hard to tell with the branches in front of it) something does seem structurally "off" for a Mallard. I wonder about something like a backcross to Mallard from a Mallard x Pintail?

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

No , i think it is something else ,not a backcross (Pintail x Mallard) x Mallard. those are very close to mallard , would show the white neckring and would show a mallard tail lock, but wider than in pure mallard .
This bird looks as if it could be a dabbling duck x diving duck cross - but I wouldn´t like to guess the species combination from this... sorry to say, but we need better photos!

Where exactly was this?

 

[stevethehydra]

Hmm, I thought it looked closer to wild-type Mallard than any F1 Mallard x other dabbling duck cross I could think of, hence thinking it could be a backcross! I certainly can't see it being any combination not involving Mallard.