I’ve been seeing this group of four ducks for two weeks now: one female mallard, two male mallards, and one male green-winged teal. The male teal and the female mallard are always together, with the two male mallards tagging along behind. So I was wondering if it’s possible for the teal and the mallard to be mates, or perhaps the female mallard adopted the teal as a duckling? Anyway, it’s interesting that she prefers the company of a male of a different species.
When I was a kid we had cayugas and mallards. Eventually we had a set of cayuga-mallards too. They were something else - cayuga coloring except for mallard collars. To be honest, I don’t think the ducks we kept realized they weren’t all the same breed - they played and ate together as if they were all the same. Maybe the ones you’ve seen don’t realize it either.
I’m pretty sure that the woman we once bought some silvers from said they’d cross-mate with mallards too, though ours didn’t since we only had them at the time.
Mallards will mate with anything, alive or dead. I suggest you stop watching the ducks for a couple of months here coming up-- it’s kind of distressing. Mallards are the sex offenders of the avian world. And if you look in a good bird guide there are all kinds of hybrid ducks.
I once returned a recuperated duck treated at a Wildlife shelter to it’s flock in Chincoteague, VA. The duck was a mallard-peking hybrid, with Peking white coloring, but built small like a mallard. The flock was a real mix of duckiness: mallards, white like Rescue Duck, and a lot of calico variation. They are “wild”, as they travel about the bay, but also very used to people, who like to feed them. Chincoteague has yellow “Duck Crossing” signs posted to protect the town ducks.
What made the 5 hour drive to another state worthwhile was to see that, after a five month absence, Rescue Duck was recognized immediately when he flew back to the flock, greeted with excitement, and fit right back in. I stayed for a day to make sure, and he was right at home. Guess ducks are mutts like the rest of us.
Maybe resident bird expert Colibri will check in and give some good answers.
What? Mallards are large ducks!
Um, not compared to Pekings. Pekings are huge ducks, not too much smaller than geese. The average male mallard doesn’t seem to even be 2/3rds the size of the average male peking.