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Post by rowanberry on Aug 22, 2015 20:44:31 GMT
Saw what I think was a small family group of about five or six ducks today on a small lake in Trent Park. I'm pretty sure that the duck in the lower left of the photo is a female Mandarin- but is the other one a Mallard cross, or simply a Mandarin juvenile? There are Mandarins in Trent Park, (usually on a duckpond by the main pathway) so they are about the place, but I read that Mandarins have a different chromosome count from other ducks and so hybrids are not supposed to be possible.  |
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Post by aeshna5 on Aug 23, 2015 4:10:18 GMT
All Mandarins. The lower right photo is an adult drake in eclipse plumage.
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Post by rowanberry on Aug 24, 2015 7:39:42 GMT
Thanks for that info, Aeshna- I had no idea ducks moulted so drastically! He looks like a different breed entirely.
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Post by aeshna5 on Aug 24, 2015 16:50:35 GMT
Yes waterfowl moult all their flight feathers simultaneously so are flightless for a period of time so within the ducks, the males lose all the bright colouring so as not to be too obvious to would-be predators.
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Post by htcdude on Sept 4, 2015 9:13:46 GMT
I had fun yesterday try to find an eclipse male Lesser Scaup and a female Fudge Duck, didn't manage either but was fun trying! Will be nice when they're all back in their proper plumages  Nige |
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