Hybrids

Duck hybrids are not that common in nature, but at the duck pond ... well, let's just say in Long Beach we are a little more tolerant of whatever pairing you care to engage in.

When Maxine and I took a trip over there en route to the playground I kept noticing the unusual ones - and they are inevitably hybrids.

The dominant wild-ish duck varieties at the duck pond are Mallards and American Wigeons. There is also a goodly contingent of domestic Pekin Ducks - the white ones you see on farms that make the cute little yellow chicks they used to sell at Easter along with baby bunnies. (I'll get some pictures of them soon.) And there is breeding pair or two of domestic Muscovy Ducks.

These hybrids appear to be Mallard/Pekin mixes, but I think I spotted a couple of Muscovy mixes, too.  Mallard features are the green heads and the curly tails. Pekins are usually white with straight tails.  Pekins, as with virtually all domesticated ducks except Muscovies, are descended from Mallards.  So they hybridize readily.

In the first two photos above are mated pairs consisting of one Pekin and a Pekin/Mallard hybrid.

The third picture is of three hybrids.  Note the curly tail on the white duck showing its Mallard parentage.

All these were taken on March 14th around 4:30 p.m. on the iPhone.  I learned a lot about domestic ducks and hybrids at Cornell's website.