Are Black Mallards A "thing"?

[Tnballgirl]

This is the last baby that hatched from my 4 eggs that were out in the snow for over a month. It is noticeably smaller than the other 3 and it appears to be black.

There aren't any other candidates for baby daddy than the mallards on the pond.

So will this guy stay black? Is it an anomaly?

 

[CloneFly]

I don't know much about ducks, but he sure is cute!!

 

[Tnballgirl]

What-the-heck is that? The American Black Duck has orange legs.

It's the baby that hatched from my mallards on the pond. All the other babies are normal.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

All domestic ducks, except Muscovy, are descended from wild Mallards. Mutations caused different traits like white, black, spotted, etc. Breeders selected birds with those and other traits and bred for the traits they wanted. So, your duck could have a new mutation but which results for a trait already known, black. Either that or your pond had a visitor drake you weren’t aware of. Please keep us updated with pictures. It will be interesting to see what he turns out like.