DuckSouth.com

GET-N-RITE wrote: a genetic flaw.

I agree. A genetically flawed mallard.

Dead duck.

I have to say it again... IT's A RESERVOIR DUCK

It is the kind that goes on the wall.

But I have to say i think it is a She/He, or Shim.
Orange bill or a female, green of a drake, and body colors of a drake, with the brown on the belly showing thru of a hen.

Hen with to much testosterone.

erm.... HOW DID IT ET ?????

An ugly one!

Always called them a mule duck (click link to previous thread)

juvie mallard drake. killed a few that looked like that

an eclipse drake mallard

It's not a juvie drake, mule duck or any other previously mentioned. It's a hen for sure. Hens always have the orange bill. It is either a very old hen or a very small possibility of being a hermaphidite (a hen with testicles). Most likely an old hen mallard. Just like with humans, when females get old, their estrogen production goes down and they take on some male characteristics. With humans, older women occasionally get facial hair. Hen mallards will get a little green on the head and the chestnut breast coloration. This characteristic with mallards is more common than you would think, but it is pretty rare.

I think it counts as two on your mallard limit.
But I could be wrong. It happened once.
Spoon

moulting rake mallard

This was replied to by the young biologist, Kevin Brunke, on the state page. You don't take much stock in his opinion?
Seems to be a knowledgeable and personable fellar to me.
http://www.mdwfp.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=41100

To me it looks like a mallard hen who suffers from decreased estrogen production. It could be from old age (henopause?) or damage to her ovaries. Without normal estrogen production in female mallards, their plumage "defaults" to resemble that of a drake.

Kevin Brunke
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks
Conservation Resources Biologist
Migratory Game Bird Program

601-432-2079

Denduke wrote:This was replied to by the young biologist, Kevin Brunke, on the state page. You don't take much stock in his opinion?
Seems to be a knowledgeable and personable fellar to me.
http://www.mdwfp.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=41100

To me it looks like a mallard hen who suffers from decreased estrogen production. It could be from old age (henopause?) or damage to her ovaries. Without normal estrogen production in female mallards, their plumage "defaults" to resemble that of a drake.

Kevin Brunke
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks
Conservation Resources Biologist
Migratory Game Bird Program

601-432-2079

Like I said. I was explained the same thing by another waterfowl biologist last year when they shot one that looked almost identical.

I killed one like that several years ago and the waterfowl management professor at MSU said it was a very old Mallard Hen that was exhibiting characteristics of a Drake. He said it was kind of like when a very old lady begins to get facial hair. (Grandmother getting a light beard).