Bird Hybrids: Mallard x Yellow-billed Pintail or Mallard x Yellow-billed (Speckled) Teal

Mallard x Yellow-billed Pintail hybrid or Mallard x Yellow-billed Teal hybrid, Magdeburg Zoo, 3rd March 2012 - copyright Joern Lehmhus

(photo ID: 0631)

That one parent of this bird is Mallard is fairy clear - Joern points to the orange legs, dark uppertail coverts, white outer tail feathers and the general shape of this bird. The other species involved is not so easy.

Joern analysis is that it should be a species without a pronounced breeding plumage and with a black and yellow bill. Additionally the second parent species must be smaller than Mallard, as this duck appears a bit smaller than a female Mallard and clearly smaller than a male Mallard. Therefore both Yellow-billed Pintail or Yellow-billed Teal (Speckled Teal) seem possible. Neither of these species were seen in the zoo and were not listed there but as the bird is not pinioned and unringed it may not come from the zoo. Instead it may have come from another source, like perhaps a private keeper who has released an unwanted hybrid or from where it has escaped accidentally.