Juvenile Drake?

[singleshot12]

Shot what looked like a juvenile mallard drake this morning but with it being this late in the season it really surprised me. Usually you see young drakes like this in the first couple weeks in October but never this late. Looking closer at him he had a lot of hen characteristics, so I'm wondering if it could possably be mixed sexed duck or something? I've heard of fish changing their sex due to hormones in the bay so thinking it could be possible with ducks! Any one else ever get one like this late in the season?

[GregFowler23]

Wow definatly looks like a little bit of hen in there. Very strange. Guess it couldnt decide on what it wanted to be.

[h2ofowlr]

Just starting to molt.  Breading season is around the corner.

[singleshot12]

Just starting to molt.  Breading season is around the corner.

Could be.. Global warming maybe? never seen one molt this early though. Usually only early summer. January-Feb they should be in their prime plumage.

[270Shooter]

Just starting to molt.  Breading season is around the corner.

Thats what I would say too

[WCTaxidermy]

singleshot, interesting looking bird.  Do you have a picture of the back and wings?  It doesn't look to me that it is a bird that is starting to molt or a juvenile.  It looks to be lightly leucistic (maybe).  A couple more pic's would be great.  Very neat bird!  John   

[singleshot12]

No I only took a belly pic., but there were definitely hen-like feathers on the back and tail, the wings also had a few mottled feathers. The birds are cleaned now, thought about taking a pic of the back but the belly seemed to stand out the most for the pic.. I've seen a lot of mallards and never seen one like this one especially this time of year. The thought never occurred to me to get it mounted.

[270Shooter]

the bill doesnt lie, was it yellow or orange?

[WCTaxidermy]

singleshot, after hearing from you what the back and wings had, and what is present on the breast,  I am pretty sure you shot a leucistic Drake.  Since it is a sex-linked mutation, your bird must have had a leucistic mother, but what makes your bird uncommon or rare, is that it's mothers mate had to have carried the trait as well to have a leucistic son.  I hate to tell you this, but if it is, you had a pretty rare trophy bird simply because it was a Drake.  Most ducks that are leucistic that we see are females.  John 




   

[jordano]

yep! you got that right!

[singleshot12]

the bill doesnt lie, was it yellow or orange?

Normal drake head and yellow bill.  What would an orange bill say?

[singleshot12]

singleshot, after hearing from you what the back and wings had, and what is present on the breast,  I am pretty sure you shot a leucistic Drake.  Since it is a sex-linked mutation, your bird must have had a leucistic mother, but what makes your bird uncommon or rare, is that it's mothers mate had to have carried the trait as well to have a leucistic son.  I hate to tell you this, but if it is, you had a pretty rare trophy bird simply because it was a Drake.  Most ducks that are leucistic that we see are females.  John  




    

That's very very interesting.. I'm regretting more and more now that I should of saved it for mounting  . The reason I posted the pic was because the duck did seem differant to the juvies I usually shoot in October. Another thing about the duck was the head was fully colared and mature, also his legs were very pale and he only had one single tail curl.

[WCTaxidermy]

Yeah, I know what you mean singleshot.  The legs being pale are another sign.  Well maybe you can find his brother if he had one.   Again thanks for sharing the pic's, those birds are always nice to look at.  John