# Duck identification (Alberta) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 13, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-identification-alberta/592544 "2011-08-13T03:33:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-identification-alberta/592544/1 "2011-08-13T03:33:01Z")
Hoping someone might be able to help us identify this duck we saw during our walk this evening. We’ve been going through our bird ID books and online sites and can’t get a firm identification, but hubby thinks it may be a female pintail / bahama duck (southern version of the pintail). The duck is mostly white with some brown spots, brown head with a white stripe up the back, dark bill. Sorry for the picture quality, I had to use my cell phone (from a distance): [Duck](http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c199/EmAnJ/duck.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-identification-alberta/592544/2 "2011-08-13T03:51:25Z")
Assuming that the bird in front is a Mallard, it’s too big, heavy, and short-necked to be any kind of pintail. My first guess is that it’s a domestic [Muscovy Duck.](http://www.canterhillfarm.org/whitemuscovy.jpg) The domestic varieties can come in all kinds of variegated patterns of black and white (and sometimes brown). It’s the right size and shape, and it has the weird kind of color pattern that is typical for domestic Muscovies. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-identification-alberta/592544/3 "2011-08-13T03:56:16Z")
Ohh, thought that was it for a minute, but it looks like Muscovy Ducks have red on face/bill. This one has an entirely brown bill. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-identification-alberta/592544/4 "2011-08-13T04:08:49Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > Ohh, thought that was it for a minute, but it looks like Muscovy Ducks have red on face/bill. This one has an entirely brown bill. Yeah, they typically do, but they’re very variable. Given the resemblance otherwise I would call it that, unless a better photo can resolve the issue. If it’s not that I’m not sure what else it would be. ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-identification-alberta/592544/5 "2011-08-13T15:06:23Z")
If that is a Mallard in the front it may be an leucistic female Mallard, like here > **[Leucistic Mallard](https://dendroica.blogspot.com/2011/03/leucistic-mallard.html)** > > I found this unusual duck yesterday in my local patch, Donaldson Park. It is almost entirely white, except for random speckling on the hea... > [@](#): > > Leucism is a condition in which an animal loses some or all of its pigmentation so that it appears pale, all white, or with white blotches around patches of normal color. Unlike albinos, which lose all of their melanin, leucistic animals typically retain their normal eye color. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-identification-alberta/592544/6 "2011-08-13T16:08:49Z")
> [@JFLuvly](#): > > If that is a Mallard in the front it may be an leucistic female Mallard, like here > [Dendroica: Leucistic Mallard](http://dendroica.blogspot.com/2011/03/leucistic-mallard.html) I’d bet that’s what it was! Thanks **JFLuvly**! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-identification-alberta/592544/7 "2011-08-13T17:00:46Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > I’d bet that’s what it was! Thanks **JFLuvly**! I’m pretty sure it’s not; at least it’s not a leucistic wild Mallard. This again assumes that the duck on the right is a Mallard (a male in eclipse plumage, or a juvenile male), based on the apparent green on the top of the head. (If the green is an artifact, then that bird might be a teal.) The bird on the left clearly is much larger and heavier than the one on the right, and has a much heavier bill, and is not the same species. Another feature that I think confirms Muscovy is the fact that the [tail extends well beyond the tips of the folded wings.](http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=muscovy+duck&view=detail&id=777EFB90D79D46467BD0358B63629498F3D3A2AD&first=30&FORM=IDFRIR) In the Mallard, and all other _Anas_ ducks, the tail doesn’t extend much beyond the tip of the folded wings. In cases of birds in aberrant plumage (albinos or partial albinos, leucistic or melanistic individuals, hybrids) the most important thing to look at is structure and proportions. The bird on the left is similar in structure to a Muscovy, and does not resemble a wild Mallard. This said, an escaped domestic breed of Mallard ancestry is a possibility, since some are larger than wild Mallards. It could also be some kind of domestic x wild Mallard hybrid, though I don’t think that would result in the kind of coloration we see. But because of the structure my money is still on Muscovy. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-identification-alberta/592544/8 "2011-08-13T21:42:13Z")
**Colibri** , can mallards and domestic ducks crossbreed? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-identification-alberta/592544/9 "2011-08-13T23:14:05Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > **Colibri** , can mallards and domestic ducks crossbreed? Yes. Most domestic ducks were derived from the Mallard, and are the same species (_Anas platyrhynchos_). However, most species in the genus _Anas_ can interbreed and form fertile hybrids anyway. Some domestic ducks, however, are derived from the Muscovy (_Cairina moschata_), which was originally domesticated in the Americas.