geoffclarke Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 2/16/2019 near Universal Studios Orlando. I'm leaning toward male Mallard X Mottled and female pure Mottled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IvoryBillHope Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 These all look like Mallards to me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millipede Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 2 minutes ago, IvoryBillHope said: These all look like Mallards to me. I believe(if I'm not mistaken) this time of year ALL mallard drakes would have green heads. I definitely see some good mallard traits so I could see it being a hybrid... but that's just an opinion and I sure couldn't say if it was part mottled. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
von Humboldt Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 I agree that the male looks good for a Mallard X Mottled. However, with the location and apparent setting it could be domestic rather than Mottled. Other than the bill (due to lack of orange), the female looks like a typical Mallard. The eye line goes too far back and the overall coloring is too beige for it to be a Mottled. The female Western Gulf Coast subspecies of Mottled has a bill that is virtually indistinguishable from that of a Mallard. However, the Florida subspecies ranges from the orange and black appearance of the typical Mallard to having a dull olive color base with black. This would be an unusual color bill for female Mallard but within the possible spectrum. Therefore I would say the female may be full Mallard but probably has some Mottled duck in her ancestry. This forum's own Tony Leukering has a fantastic article on the Florida hybrids. https://ebird.org/content/ebird/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/eBird_Muddled_Ducks.pdf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerri Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 In domestic Ducks the males typically get one long curled up tail feather as seen in the photos. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millipede Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 2 hours ago, Kerri said: In domestic Ducks the males typically get one long curled up tail feather as seen in the photos. That's a typical mallard trait as well... which is where domestic breeds get that I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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