Hybrid ducks mystery

[Karen Strong]

Please forgive my ignorance - I'm a brand new birder & have only been observing for a little over a month.

I saw these ducks yesterday (2/6/18) in the pond in Prospect Park, Wheat Ridge.  My best guess is that they are Mallard-Northern Shoveler hybrids.  They resemble male Mallards, in that they have green heads, yellow bills, and those curly "butt" feathers (I'm sure there's a more proper term for those).  But they were significantly larger than a Mallard they paddled by - they were about the size of a cackling goose that was also nearby.  And then there are those white chest markings.  Northern Shovelers have white chests, and the front duck's bill definitely looks Shoveler-like in shape.  But Northern Shovelers are even smaller than Mallards.  Could the offspring of a Mallard-N. Shoveler mating be larger than either species?  Do these species even "commingle"?

Thanks to anyone who can enlighten me!

Karen Strong

Conifer, CO

[Joe Roller]

First, as a brand new birder, welcome to this great pastime, Karen!

And thanks for your good question.

Some would label those funky birds

 "Mallard (Domestic type)"  which is a checkbox on the eBIrd list.

My personal name for them is "ducks of uncertain heritage."

In the Sibley field guide and some others, there is a drawing of similar birds in the 

"domestic duck" section.

Keep on birding'!

Joe Roller, Denver

To paraphrase an old saw -

"Its a wise duckling who knows who his father is."

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cob...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/0bd5c6a4-726a-4bdf-b3e8-46ba38894bc8%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Michael Lamson]

If you tour the livestock exhibit at the county fair, these are called "colored runners".

On Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at 3:19:58 PM UTC-7, Karen Strong wrote:
> Please forgive my ignorance - I'm a brand new birder & have only been observing for a little over a month.
>
>
> I saw these ducks yesterday (2/6/18) in the pond in Prospect Park, Wheat Ridge.  My best guess is that they are Mallard-Northern Shoveler hybrids.  They resemble male Mallards, in that they have green heads, yellow bills, and those curly "butt" feathers (I'm sure there's a more proper term for those).  But they were significantly larger than a Mallard they paddled by - they were about the size of a cackling goose that was also nearby.  And then there are those white chest markings.  Northern Shovelers have white chests, and the front duck's bill definitely looks Shoveler-like in shape.  But Northern Shovelers are even smaller than Mallards.  Could the offspring of a Mallard-N. Shoveler mating be larger than either species?  Do these species even "commingle"?
>
>
>
>