White-cheeked Pintail x Cape Teal

White-cheeked Pintail x Cape Teal hybrid (with White-cheeked Pintail), JCB Lakes, Rocester (Staffordshire, UK), 11th April 2017 - copyright Philip Ridsdale

(photo ID: 3201)

The White-cheeked Pintail influence in this bird is fairly obvious but for me the other parent wasn't so clear.  Thanks to Joern for pointing us to the correct ID.

White-cheeked Pintail x Cape Teal hybrid (same bird as in photo ID 3201 above), JCB Lakes, Rocester (Staffordshire, UK), 11th April 2017 - copyright Philip Ridsdale

(photo ID: 3200)

White-cheeked Pintail Anas bahamensis
Cape Teal Anas capensis

White-cheeked Pintail x Chestnut Teal

possible White-cheeked Pintail x Chestnut Teal hybrid, Victoria Park (Surrey, UK), 3rd November 2012 - copyright David Darrell-Lambert

(photo ID: 2700)

The identification of this bird is not easy and so far we have not reached a confident conclusion.  Provisionally I've labelled it as possible White-cheeked Pintail x Chestnut Teal as of all the ideas that have been presented so far this one seems to me to be the best, but we are by no means sure.

The rather long pointed tail with white sides suggests White-cheeked Pintail to me, though there are other species with relatively long tails and other species with white edges to the tail, so this is not a certainty.  The pale cheeks fit with that too, though of course there are many other hybrids that show pale cheeks, so this is not a strong supporting factor.  The brown body plumage suggests to me one of the ducks that lack bright body colours, which again fits White-cheeked Pintail (among other species), but of course we do not know that this bird is fully adult, or if it has completed its post-eclipse moult, or indeed if it is intersex.  So White-cheeked Pintail is a tentative starting point for me, not a conclusion.

If right, then the second parent must have black under the tail and a green head.  Probably a wholly green head as the green looks quite extensive, though hybrids involving Wigeon or Teal have also been suggested.  We have seen Wood Duck x White-cheeked Pintail hybrids recently and these have looked quite different, but one of my first ideas was Mallard x White-cheeked Pintail.  But this idea did not convince me, or others I asked.  Mallard hybrids usually show some hint of the curved central tail feathers, whereas this shows nothing of that.  A Chiloe Wigeon x White-cheeked Pintail hybrid looked very different with, among other things, very different pattern to the tertials and scapulars.

It was Joern who first suggested White-cheeked Pintail x Chestnut Teal, though he has been clear that he is not sure and some things seem wrong for this ID.  But the tertials and scapulars of Chestnut Teal are rather close to this bird, and the pattern of the flanks (if not the colour) could easily lead to a pattern like the one shown by this bird.  And it has a green head and black vent of course, and the bill is not dissimilar either.  But should we not expect to see chestnut colour on the body if Chestnut Teal was involved?  Certainly some of their hybrids show chestnut on the body.  Well, there's a photo of a Cape Teal x Chestnut Teal hybrid in one of the Gillham books (Hybrid Ducks: the 5th contribution towards an inventory, plate 68) and that shows only a hint of chestnut on its breast, not at all on the flanks - so rather like this bird in that respect.  We might have expected to see a redder eye on a Chestnut Teal hybrid, but at least it is not darker than that of White-cheeked Pintail (it's actually quite similar to White-cheeked Pintail's eye colour I think).

We've considered other ideas too, involving Teal, Wigeon and even Black Duck, but for me at this point White-cheeked Pintail x Chestnut Teal is the best fit.  That doesn't mean it's right though, so please get in touch if you can help clear this mystery up!

possible White-cheeked Pintail x Chestnut Teal hybrid (same bird as in photo ID 2700 above), Victoria Park (Surrey, UK), 3rd November 2012 - copyright David Darrell-Lambert

(photo IDs: 2701-2702)

White-cheeked Pintail Anas bahamensis
Chestnut Teal Anas castanea

White-cheeked Pintail x Yellow-billed (Speckled) Teal

 captive White-cheeked Pintail x Yellow-billed Teal hybrid, Halle (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany), 5th October 2014 - copyright Joern Lehmus

(photo ID: 1662)

I think the ranges of the two species involved here do overlap so I suppose wild hybrids are theoretically possible, but both species are frequently found in captivity where hybrids like this are much more likely to be encountered.  Here is one such example.

captive White-cheeked Pintail x Yellow-billed Teal hybrid (same bird as in photo ID 1662 above), Halle (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany), 5th October 2014 - copyright Joern Lehmus

(photo IDs: 1663-1664)

I imagine the next photos show the same bird - at least it's a similar bird at the same zoo.

captive White-cheeked Pintail x Yellow-billed Teal hybrid, Halle Zoo (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany), 21st September 2016 - copyright Joern Lehmus

(photo IDs: 2888-2891)

The only thing that's certain about the next hybrid is that we don't know what it is!  It
superficially resembles Speckled Teal (i.e. Yellow-billed Teal or Andean Teal) but differs in a number of respects.  Most of the differences could be explained by White-cheeked Pintail being a parent, although it shows one or two unexpected features for that hybrid.  Both Yellow-billed Teal (not Andean) and White-cheeked Pintail were present in the collection.

However Joern has expressed some doubt about this ID and found another examples of Speckled Teal x White-cheeked Pintail hybrid which didn't look exactly like this (and subsequently he got photos to support this - see above), so another explanation may be needed.  One suggestion is Yellow-billed Pintail x Andean Teal, but we are not sure at the moment.  The leg colour is perhaps a little paler than would be expected for any combination of these species and perhaps the correct explanation lies in a combination we have not yet considered?

unidentified captive hybrid, possibly White-cheeked Pintail x Yellow-billed Teal, Blakeney Collection (Norfolk, UK), 24th November 2013 - copyright Dave Appleton

(photo IDs: 0338-0345)

unidentified captive hybrid, possibly White-cheeked Pintail x Yellow-billed Teal, Blakeney Collection (Norfolk, UK), 9th November 2013 - copyright Dave Appleton

(photo IDs: 0336-0337)

unidentified captive hybrid, possibly White-cheeked Pintail x Yellow-billed Teal, Blakeney Collection (Norfolk, UK), 7th December 2013 - copyright Dave Appleton

(photo IDs: 0346-0347)

White-cheeked Pintail Anas bahamensis
Yellow-billed Pintail Anas georgica
Andean Teal Anas andium
Yellow-billed Teal Anas flavirostris

Wood Duck x White-cheeked Pintail

Wood Duck x White-cheeked Pintail hybrid, East Ruston Vicarage (Norfolk, UK), 2nd April 2015 - copyright James Emerson

(photo ID: 2162)

I had a feeling these two hybrids were probably Wood Duck x White-cheeked Pintail but Joern was much more confident: "It is 100% sure this cross, head pattern, tail, speculum, bill, everything perfect match with birds of known parentage."

Wood Duck x White-cheeked Pintail hybrids (including the above bird in photo ID 2162), East Ruston Vicarage (Norfolk, UK), 2nd April 2015 - copyright James Emerson

(photo ID: 2163)

And here's an illustration from Joern that was based on photos of three different individuals.

Wood Duck x White-cheeked Pintail hybrid - copyright Joern Lehmhus

(plate ID: 0739)

Wood Duck Aix sponsa
White-cheeked Pintail Anas bahamensis