Is there any chance this is an american black duck, or is it a mottled duck hybrid, south florida feb 24. (1 Viewer)

[goawildlifeenthusiast]

 

[nartreb]

There's a good chance it's Mottled. The photo is a little dim, so we can't rely on colors too much, but the bird seems overall rather dark, with the body darker than the head. Most promising is the speculum (the shiny patch on the wing) - it doesn't seem to have a white border (which mallards do; mottled and black don't).

I wouldn't want to try to distinguish mottled from black on this one photo -- I'd like more photos just to be more confident it's not a mallard -- but Black is unlikely in southern Florida.

Hybrids are always possible, trying to spot a hybrid from a single distant photo is asking too much.

 

[raymie]

Not an American Black Duck or a pure Mallard. Probably a "Muddled Duck" (Mallard x Mottled hybrid), possibly pure Mottled.