Any duck identification experts?

[M.T. Bucket]

I saw a duck on Trout Lake in Itasca County that I'm hoping someone here can help me id.

The duck is fairly tame, as large or larger than a Mallard, and has beautiful plumage. It's breast wings, and back are a deep, slightly reddish-brown, except for a small blue-green patch on each wing. The head is dark reddish-brown with a slightly darker, small moustache. The bill is

dark with an orange tip. The duck has a thick, white neck ring. It has a white rump, white under the tail, and bright orange legs. It was not associating with any other waterfowl.

I thought it might be some sort of weird domesticated Mallard hybrid, but I posted the photos I took to a birdwatching forum, and someone replied that he thought it was a Shellduck hybrid because of the shape of the head. Anyone out there know for sure?

The photos I took aren't great, but they might just be enough to id it.

[fishface5]

Is there some Pintail in that bird?

[WAG416]

Dang near looks like a pintail/canvasback mix.

Neat looking bird though.

WAG

[wyldewal]

It's got the sloping bil of a canvasback,the tail of a pintail, the rings of a ringbill, and the body shape of a mallard. I think it's a Canpinringlard.

Cool duck, let us know if you find out what it really is.

[Nova]

Definately something mixed with a pintail. The head shape and the tail are very similar to a pintail. I don't think it's got can in it though. The bill on a can starts at the very top of the head and is thicker at the base. The color is what is really odd along with the size. Might be a pintail/ domestic(farm) duck mix. Let us know if you get an id on it.

[Sartell Angler]

no idea what that bird would be classified as...very unique! If I were you, I would spend some time carving a decoy that looks like him, and maybe this fall you can bring him into your spread and bag him for the wall!

good luck,

SA/wdw

[bigbucks]

I agree, other than the coloring the shape & size look very much like a pintail. My guess it's just some goofy color mutation of a pintail, but that's with really no sound biological background. I guess you could say I'm a quack...

Sorry had to say it, who knows why.

I guess it could be a cross between a ringneck & a pintail. It almost looks like the beak tip comes to a point a bends down a little which seems like ringnecks are about the only ones that do that from my memory.

[so haaad]

You've found the ugly duckling! Kind of looks like a farm pond mallard, especially if it has the orange legs and blue on the wings.

[Nova]

M.T. maybe email the DNR and include the pic. See if they can help.

[wyldewal]

Now that I think about it, I seem to remember some Australian ducks at the zoo that had similar colors to that duck. There bodys were a different shape but it's somthing to consider.

[M.T. Bucket]

I've emailed Ducks Unlimited, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and a site that deals with unusual domestic ducks (think I covered all the bases) to ask them if they have a person who could help with identification on hand. If any of them reply I'll post what I find out.

[koWALLEYEski]

that is a really interesting bird! keep us posted once you figure it out!

[GullGuide]

Does this look familiar?

[image]http://www.utm.edu/departments/ed/cece/shel/aushel.JPEG[/image]

or this-

[image]http://www.utm.edu/departments/ed/cece/shel/aushela.JPEG[/image]

AUSTRALIAN SHELDUCK

No idea how he got here, but pretty cool nonetheless.

Also, no idea why the pics wont post, but oh well.....

[Jackpine Rob]

Here's an unauthorized link to a description of the Aussie Shelduck.

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Birds/Facts/FactSheets/fact-ausshellduck.cfm

[wyldewal]

That's it! The one I remember from the zoo!

[GullGuide]

The pics I found look a lot more like the one at the top of the thread, you can see the white band distinctly around the neck.

If anyone can get those pics to work, go for it.

[M.T. Bucket]

That first shellduck photo looks pretty close to the duck I saw.

[image]http://www.utm.edu/departments/ed/cece/shel/aushel.JPEG[/image]

(I tried)

The general shape is correct, the ring is correct, the body coloration is correct, however there is no white around the rump or under the tail, I don't see the wing patches, and the bill had an orange tip on the duck I saw. I doubt a Mallard and a Shellduck could hybridize, but who knows?

BTW, the domestic duck guy said my photo wasn't clear enough and Cornell said they were too busy with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker discovery to help me. I haven't heard anything from DU yet.

[outdoor ran]

Wydlewal, ya got it right

[GullGuide]

That's kind of what I was thinking was that it was a mallard/shelduck cross. It would not surprise me if they could interbreed since I've seen/shot all kinds of goofy combinations. A few years ago I shot one up near Brainerd and showed a guy up at the access what he thought it was. The guy ended up being wildlife artist Terry Raedeke and we spent about an hour looking at it trying to figure out what it was. I was going to have it mounted, but as a poor college student at the time it never got done.

[Crusty old Swede]

My guess the duck contest entry is, good old horny drake mallard with your basic tame muscovy, (the multi colored farm pond duck with slightly longish tails) Not to far from one of my duck hunting spots is a farm pond full of all sorts of tame ducks that get bred to mallards every year. We have shot birds that range from solid coal black with red legs to mallards with white patches. Two years ago I got two drake mallards that had a distinctly blue cast to them, it was really distinct when held up to normal mallards.

[M.T. Bucket]

Well guys, I sought expert advice and here's what I got (most were not excited about the photo quality):

I emailed a birdwatching listserve and received one response from an experience birder who thought it was a Shelduck, possibly a cross between an Austrailian Shelduck and a Ruddy Shelduck. He said that it was probably an escaped domestic.

I emailed a domestic duck dealer and he had no idea. He said he would need a better photo.

I emailed Ducks Unlimited and their biologist said it was most likely a wild Mallard crossed with one of the many varieties of domestic waterfowl or just a domestic duck, possibly a variety of Swedish, east Indies or cayuga.

I emailed a DNR Wildlife area office and their manager's opinion was that the duck was a cross between a wild Pintail and a domestic Mallard variety. He said that Mallards and Pintails will hybridize with domestic ducks quite frequently.

Personally, I wouldn't rule out any of these possibilities. However, I have a couple of reasons for believing that the reply I got from the DNR is most accurate.

1. The duck just showed up one day and now it is no longer on the lake. This means it must have flown in. Domestic ducks don't fly, so this would have to have at least some wild blood which would (probably) rule out the Shelducks or a straight domestic variety. Besides, I don't think anyone on Trout Lake in Itasca County keeps domestic ducks.

2. Tough to see in the photo, but the wing patches did appear Mallard-like.

3. There is definitely a look of pintail to that duck.

I think Nova's response was very similar to the DNR's--cool. I should mention that I sent the photos to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and they have promised to get back to me and I sent them to a friend of mine who knows a duck researcher. I'll post the results of these correspondences as well.

[waltinader]

It looks like a some kind of farm duck. Maybe it got away from a close farm or somthing. If its not that it is crossed with about 3 or 4 different ducks.

[Dotch]

Quote:

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Domestic ducks don't fly, so this would have to have at least some wild blood which would (probably) rule out the Shelducks or a straight domestic variety.

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Not that I disagree with your overall asessment of what the duck is or how it came to be but domestic ducks can and do fly. As a kid growing up on the farm, I recall female muscovies, some rouens & others, especially when they're young, were quite capable of flight and they were always seeking water. They have been known to hook up with wild mallards in this area and the offspring can definitely fly. Recently, friends sold some young domestic ducks to a customer and when he got them home, they flew away. Talk about a racket!