Duck ID? Orlando, USA Aug 23. I cannot figure out whether it is mottled, american black or some hybrid. (1 Viewer)

[goawildlifeenthusiast]

 

[raymie]

American Black Duck isn't really possible in Orlando. These look to be Mallard x Mottled Duck hybrids. See here for tips for differentiating Mallards, Florida Mottled Ducks, and hybrids: https://s3.amazonaws.com/is-ebird-w...TcwNzY4ODAzOS4yODIuMC4xNzA3Njg4MDM5LjYwLjAuMA..

 

[goawildlifeenthusiast]

American Black Duck isn't really possible in Orlando. These look to be Mallard x Mottled Duck hybrids. See here for tips for differentiating Mallards, Florida Mottled Ducks, and hybrids: https://s3.amazonaws.com/is-ebird-w...TcwNzY4ODAzOS4yODIuMC4xNzA3Njg4MDM5LjYwLjAuMA..

Thanks i figured it was a hybrid considering it didnt look like any species.

 

[rkj]

I do not have a lot of experience with Mottled Ducks, but going through the marks given in the Leukering and Pranty paper that raymie linked to, these birds seem to me very like pure Mottled Ducks. The only difference I see is the tails of these birds do not seem to be as black as described for Mottled Ducks by Leukering and Pranty, but some of their photos of Mottled Ducks seem to have tails similar to these. Is there something I am missing?

 

[raymie]

I do not have a lot of experience with Mottled Ducks, but going through the marks given in the Leukering and Pranty paper that raymie linked to, these birds seem to me very like pure Mottled Ducks. The only difference I see is the tails of these birds do not seem to be as black as described for Mottled Ducks by Leukering and Pranty, but some of their photos of Mottled Ducks seem to have tails similar to these. Is there something I am missing?

The front bird, at the very least, is a hybrid with Mallard based on bill color and face pattern.

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Thanks for the timely post and to Raymie for the link to the informative paper. I'm due to visit Florida soon and Mottled Duck is very much on the wanted list. 👍