February 08 – My Nature Journal

Mallard Hybrid

Because I walk in nature so often—and carefully observe any and every wild animal I see—I find that anything out of the ordinary really jumps out at me.

As I hiked around the lake today, I casually glanced at a flock of approximately ten Mallard ducks dabbling in a placid inlet and saw something I’ve never seen before—one very weird-looking duck mixed in with the usual suspects.

Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) are incredibly common both on this specific lake, and in my area, so I see them every time I walk near water.

For the most part, Mallards of the same sex look remarkably similar to each other. While the birds themselves can probably tell each other apart just fine, to me, individual birds are indistinguishable from their companions most of the time.

But today, it was clear immediately that “one of these birds is not like the others”. Mixed in with the standard-issue male Mallards was one bird with very strange coloration, which I believe to be a hybrid.

A purebred male Mallard has an emerald-green head, a yellow bill, a sharply defined white neck ring, a chestnut brown breast, and a grayish body. This strange-looking bird had an emerald-green head and yellow bill, but no white neck ring, and a green breast instead of brown.

Additionally, purebred adult Mallards have gray body feathers, a metallic blue speculum (wing patch) bordered in white, and several black tail feathers that curl up. The strange bird had brown body feathers, a long, narrow dark purple stripe down the length of its sides, and curly black tail feathers.

Mallards mate aggressively and often hybridize with ducks of closely related species. The appearance of the hybrid offspring shows a mix of characteristics inherited from both parents. In this case, I suspect the parents of this particular bird might have been a Mallard and a Black Duck (Anas rubripes).

I think the Mallard parent gave the bird its green head and curly black tail feathers, while the Black Duck parent contributed brown body feathers and purple wing feathers.

The genetic mixing must have prevented the development of the Mallard’s normal white neck ring and chestnut brown chest, and caused the normal short, wide speculum (bordered in white in Mallards and in black in Black Ducks) to lengthen into this bird’s long, narrow side stripe.

I really enjoyed watching this hybrid Mallard and cataloguing all the visual differences between it and the other, purebred Mallards in the group. But this was also the very first Mallard hybrid I’ve ever seen in the wild, which is surprising, given how common Mallards are in my area.

This bird reminded me once again that Mother Nature always presents something new to nature journalers who pay attention.