Just come back from Scotland, saw this Duck swimming with some Mallards in Oban harbour, I am assuming it is some sort of hybrid or am I wrong?
Thanks
Gary http://walksnwildlife.blogspot.com/
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Hi Gary
I would say it is a Hybrid and there is some Shelduck in there somewhere to begin with.
Ducks are notorious for inter-breeding with other species of ducks, and it produces a lot of Heinz 57 varieties.
Just a shame when all goes belly up for the pure species of duck, and the ducks end up look really bizzare like the one in your picture.
The thing is i wonder if the diving ducks become confused if they end up in another body LOL
Regards
Kathy and Dave
I'd say it was an escapee domestic Mallard of some kind or other, aka 'yuck duck' or 'manky mallard' . They come in various plumage patterns and are often much larger than wild-type mallards. The eight and ninth photo down on this link: http://10000birds.com/manky-mallards-domestic-feral-or-just-plain-odd-mallards.htm show a bird quite similar to yours.
My blog: http://mazzaswildside.blogspot.co.uk/
My Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/124028194@N04/
Not sure what type of duck it is but it's a lovely photo - great markings, thanks for posting it.
Kerry
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kezmo6310/
Whatever it is, thanks for a great photograph of a lovely bird.
Hi Puffin,
I have no idea what it is either, although there is a fairly similar one on our river. Thanks for the superb photo.
Cheers, Linda.
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Hi,
the structure of the bird is mallard/ domestic duck :))
S
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Hi, it is a mallard hybrid - as are so many - probably crossed with a muscovey from the larger head and body size.