• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Where premium quality meets exceptional value. ZEISS Conquest HDX.

Hybrids Wood duck x Mallard (1 Viewer)

Joern Lehmhus

Joern Lehmhus

Well-known member
Hi all,
here are drawings of 4 individual hybrids of Wood duck x Mallard to show the general appearance of that hybrid combination, but also the variability within such hybrids.

hope this is interesting for others...I am going to continue on such drawings of hybrids

Jörn

EDIT: I see the scan is not the best, perhaps I should put this also into the gallery?
 

Attachments

  • Mallard x woodie 4.jpg
    Mallard x woodie 4.jpg
    91.4 KB · Views: 240
Last edited:
Thanks, that is encouraging... I am just working on the female hybrids of that combination- takes some time, that!

But to go on with this, I´d like to see more photos of hybrids,apart from what is already in Birdforum or recently in the web.

So I would be gratefull to anybody who could provide photos of hybrid Ducks, Shelducks, Geese or Swans...
 
Joern I have photographs of gooders if you would like to see them. These are goosander crossed with eider duck and were raised this year.

btw beautiful studies, well done.
 
Yes though I believe they were also reared at Llanelli and Slimbridge too.

Waahhh Ive just realised that I think I have lost them all. My pc crashed and had to be restored recently and i lost alot of photos that i didnt back up. Those where part of them. Had photos of them since they were very young. Only seem to have the one photo left. I saw them yesterday and they seem well grown now so will have to go back and take some more.

http://www.cottage-garden-seeds.co.uk/holding/gooder.jpg
 
I am sorry for that -PC Crash is awfull...

Still , a very good photo of an odd bird!

Would really love to see them when they change plumage...soI hope very much you get some more photos.
 
what a monster! i always wondered how such combinations are possible, i mean that they survive and are appearently healthy - but in anseriformes almost everything seems to be possible. so, what's their secret?
 
Yes Joern very odd indeed. When very young they were in with the eider ducklings and they were soo beautiful. Now they have been seperated and are on their own in the nursery. I dont know what they intend to do with them. I will have to ask.

Lou there were 4 of them altogether. It does make you wonder how birds become attracted to a totally seperate species that looks so different, but I guess that is what happens when so many species that normally wouldnt meet in the wild are in such close proximity.

I also have photos of a mallard X mandarin somewhere but they arent as good as the one above and are on my back up tapes somewhere.
 
Hi Psilo,

I´d also like to know what they will do with them...Eiders really seem to respond to other ducks and shellducks. Seen male Eider display with mallard females (all freeliving birds,though origin of the eider wasn´t clear) and with ruddy and common shellduck (in Zoos)...

The photos of the mandarin hybrid would be really important, as it is generally assumed by most people interested in hybrids that Mandarin cannot hybridise with any other duck (due to differences in Chromosome numbers-I read in one reference)...
I can only add that until now all photos of presumed hybrid Mandarin I got to see turned out to be either mandarin going into eclipse, or other hybrid combinations...

therefore, please, if you have the time to search for them I´d be really happy to see that hybrid- this would be a very important bird!
 
Last edited:
Last edited:
Hi Jeorn
In the light of what you say about mandarin hybrids then I doubt that the duck that i photographed is just such a hybrid. I saw it on one of the lagoons at martinmere last year and was told it was one but now i doubt it?
It was only two thirds the size of a mallard and looks rather like a call duck but i dont think that it is one.

http://www.cottage-garden-seeds.co.uk/holding/mystduck.jpg

So it appears in the wild too. That is cool. I will certainly make an effort to keep track of these birds to see how their plumages change.
 
Joern Lehmhus said:
it is generally assumed by most people interested in hybrids that Mandarin cannot hybridise with any other duck (due to differences in Chromosome numbers-I read in one reference)...
Click to expand...

That is curious, especially as Mandarin and Wood Ducks are similar. Did anybody actually try to cross Mandarin with other ducks, mating was observed, eggs were laid and nothing came out?
 
would be worth checking out the Gillhams Inventories Towards a List of Hybrid Wildfowl (the exact title escapes me at the moment, they are on the 3rd inventory now I think) if you haven't already ... they'd certainly be interested in any unusal hybrid combinations, back-crosses etc of either wild or captive wildfowl ~ as far as I remember there was at least one Aix (Mandarin/Wood) hybrid documentation and lots of photographs of some very odd things indeed ~ including a couple of 'Swoose' (Swan X Goose) !
 
Hi Psilo I am sorry,but I am afraid that is just a call duck or call duck mix.

Even the Gillhams are carefully about Mandarin hybrids;and they do not have a proven case of Mandarin -Wood duck hybrids (I remember them mentioning 2 probable Mandarin -Laysan Duck hybrids which where the best documented case, but which were born with some deformities and only lived for a few months).

Furthermore, there was a reward out for a proven hybrid Mandarin x Wood duck from some Waterfowl breeders organisation (don´t remember if it was an American or European web page); what I got from the text there was that nobody until now had documented such a hybrid.

Strange, because wood duck has hybridized with a lot of other species,and these hybridizations have been documented; for example in the Gillham books.
 
Joern Lehmhus said:
Hi Psilo I am sorry,but I am afraid that is just a call duck or call duck mix.

Even the Gillhams are carefully about Mandarin hybrids;and they do not have a proven case of Mandarin -Wood duck hybrids (I remember them mentioning 2 probable Mandarin -Laysan Duck hybrids which where the best documented case, but which were born with some deformities and only lived for a few months).

Furthermore, there was a reward out for a proven hybrid Mandarin x Wood duck from some Waterfowl breeders organisation (don´t remember if it was an American or European web page); what I got from the text there was that nobody until now had documented such a hybrid.

Strange, because wood duck has hybridized with a lot of other species,and these hybridizations have been documented; for example in the Gillham books.
Click to expand...


I didn't actually mean a Mandarin x Wood Duck...but I thought they had a picture of either a Mandarin or Wood Duck (an Aix anyways) hybrid ... will dig out the inventory and have a look
 
Warning! This thread is more than 20 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

SandhillCrane02
Nonbreeding Mallard or Hybrid? (Central FL)
Replies
3
Views
2K
SandhillCrane02
SandhillCrane02
Y
Mallard Hybrid ID Help
Replies
3
Views
1K
01101001
01101001
H
another one via inaturalist: 'just' hybrid Mallard x Eastern Spot-billed Duck | NW Tokyo | march 2023
Replies
5
Views
1K
HouseCrow
H
S
Hybrid(?) duck, Manchester UK
2
Replies
20
Views
3K
Joern Lehmhus
Joern Lehmhus
M
Hybrid ducks? (Japan)
Replies
4
Views
993
Trinovid
T

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top