ML631954285

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***Extremely rare. After scanning through gulls and sea ducks for a while, I came across a group of ABDU and MALL in my scope way over in the cove towards Sasco Beach. Mostly Black, a few Mallard. I quickly noticed a lighter bird that appeared very interesting. I immediately thought that this looks like a Mottled Duck. Freaking out, I started taking a bunch of record shots, in addition to studying it very closely in the scope. I thought it looked good, but even with the scope it was too far to see close details as it was quite far (at least 1/2 mile, probably .6 or .7 miles away). I approached it as close as the mudflats would let me get (tide coming in!). With further study, I still stuck by my impression that it looked Mottled-like and started to send pix around. With strong pro-Mottled feedback from Jeremy Nance, I continued to look at it and take notes and photos. Description: clear Anas duck. Clearly lighter in color than Black, closer to Mallard, although noticeably darker. Color was pretty spot on for MODU. Clear warm tones. Bill dull yellow, almost grayish green, very classic for Mottled. No orange tones. Bill size and shape notable too – very long bill, longer than Mallard or Black. Very long and lanky appearance overall. Neck very long and light-colored, contributing to this appearance – shape of body and neck 100% Mottled. Forehead slope extremely low, classic for Mottled, unlike Mallard or Black. Noticeable black gape patch, visible in the scope from all angles and present on both sides of the bird. Face/cheek lightly marked. Tail mostly dark and features uncurled. Slight pale edging. Blue/purple speculum patch with a tiny bit of white on the leading edge. While all of this is pretty classic Mottled, there are a few features that suggest it’s not a pure bird. There is a little more paleness on the tail than expected for pure Mottled, there is indeed a black gape patch but it’s not super large, and there is a touch of patterning on the cheek. These features likely eliminate pure MODU and indicate Mallard influence. I also considered Mallard x Black and Mallard x Mexican. This bird has absolutely nothing to do with the species American Black Duck. Julien Amsellem and I discussed this in detail. His details as follows: “Well to start with, I’ve seen so many MALL x ABDU and it just doesn’t look like any of them. Proportionally, black ducks have a shorter beak and steeper forehead than either species, which becomes evident when you see a hybrid and that face looks a little more squished than it should be. Mottled on the other hand has a super sloped forehead and long beak, and so, like in this bird, you expect to see an exaggerated look of either MODU or MALL. The mantle, wing, chest, etc plumage is quite pale, and with the genes of an ABDU, you’d expect a plumage that’s darker than that of a MALL. Here you don’t have that, but instead see a very pale body with chevrons that are even a little paler than pure MODU. For me, that’s the Mottled ancestry creating a really nicely chevroned pattern but MALL swooping in and making them less buffy than they should be. Lastly, there seems to be a semblance of a black spot coming in near the gape, though not at all fully formed, which gives it a MODU vibe. “ Julien is spot on. The color, gape patch, forehead slope, bill color, overall shape, bill shape, patterning, etc. are all MODU, nothing like ABDU. Mexican x Mallard was also considered, as mentioned above. For similar reasons I do not believe that this (much less likely) hybrid combo is what this bird is. Mallard x Mexican should be quite dark, lacking the structural/bill clues, as well as the black gape patch, warm tones, and patterning this bird shows. I have seen a good handful of Mexican Ducks and Mallard x Mexican Ducks in AZ. While hybrids are very tough, I am confident that this bird is Mallard x Mottled, a very rare hybrid that has no New England records, only one for the Northeast. All of the features seem to add up. Over two days, I studied this bird for the better part of 3 hours, took notes, photos, and sent to other birders. In particular, Sam Buttrick gave me excellent feedback. He has studied Mallard, Mottled, and hybrids in FL and is well familiar with them. From Sam, “I see MODU daily and I wouldn’t hesitate to call this MODU influenced if I saw it here. Actually I would probably just say MODU without looking carefully.” I also ran these images by Jeremy Nance, Greg Hanisek, Julian Hough, Frank Gallo, Tony Leukering, Stefan Martin, and a few others. Thank you for all for the feedback on this very fun bird. I also consulted Tony Leukering and Bill Pranty’s excellent article on Mottled and Mallard x Mottled hybrids in Florida, in addition to many eBird pix of all of the relevant taxa. In terms of likelihood of hybrid vs pure showing up in the NE, unfortunately hybrids are abundant in FL, so much so that it’s seen as a threat to Mottled Duck. In some areas, hybrids far outnumber Mottled. So it’s not unexpected that a Mottled-type duck here would show signs of Mallard introgression. I firmly believe that this bird is closer to Mottled than Mallard, although not pure. Really fun bird to study, even though it doesn’t look like would be a new bird for the state list :)

מידע טכני

מודל

Canon EOS R5

עדשה

RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM + EXTENDER RF1.4x

ISO

800

אורך מוקד

700 mm

פלאש

Flash did not fire

צמצם

f/10.0

מהירות תריס

1/800 sec

מימדים

2752 pixels x 1836 pixels

גודל קובץ מקורי

976.09 KB