Common Shelduck x Wood Duck

Common Shelduck x Wood Duck hybrid, River House Restaurant, Stirling (Stirlingshire, UK), 29th December 2013 - copyright Dave Appleton

(photo ID: 0287)

A very distinctive hybrid that looks nothing like either parent species, although it is in fact pretty much intermediate between each parent.  Thanks to Lynn Morag for bringing my attention to this pair of birds (I presume they are male and female) which have been present on the small loch just off the M9 for a few years.  When I visited there were only a small number of wildfowl present and most of them were hybrids - this begs a question as to how they got there - maybe they were unwanted accidents from another collection (many collectors don't like to keep hybrids) donated to the restaurant to entertain their visitors?

 Common Shelduck x Wood Duck hybrid (same bird as in photo ID 0287 above), River House Restaurant, Stirling (Stirlingshire, UK), 29th December 2013 - copyright Dave Appleton

(photo IDs: 0288-0290)

The second bird (below) was much duller, lacking some of the male Wood Duck features showing on the first bird, such as the black vertical bar at the sides of the breast, the horizontal pale flank stripe, so I presume it was a female.

Common Shelduck x Wood Duck hybrid (second individual), River House Restaurant, Stirling (Stirlingshire, UK), 29th December 2013 - copyright Dave Appleton

(photo IDs: 0291-0294)

Common Shelduck Tadorna tadorna
Wood Duck Aix sponsa