Duck ID please

[BillN_33]

seen in the "wild" today in SW France ……. on a river in a local town …. so could be "free" but domesticated

Never seen one like this before …….. an ornamental/mallard cross maybe?

Can anyone ID it …… there were three or four around with the same number of Mallards ……. but they were bigger than the normal Mallards

 

[mickledore]

Apparently these ducks are not that uncommon. They are nearly always considered to be mutations on the mallard theme. There are several at our local WWT site - Martin Mere. I asked them roughly the same question as yours and this is whatn they said....


Martin Mere say:-The bird that you saw is a Domestic crested duck which derives from the Mallard with no hybridisation with any other species. Mutations can be selectively bred to produce different characteristics, such as large fat birds bred for food or ornamental characteristics, such as the crest on the head of this variety, mainly for show. The crest of this variety is formed by a skull deformity which makes the feathers grow in this strange way.

There you are!