Drake or Duck? (pics)

[tia]

Okay - as many pictures as I've posted of Jet - you'd think he/she was the only Mallard in the world. Jet has a drake like voice and is changing colors a bit - can you tell me if it looks like drake colors coming in. Jet is also growing a little ridge of feathers along head of some sort. These are preening pictures right after a swim.

 

[Redwood Violet]

I'd say if it talks like a drake, it's probably a drake. Their voices are pretty distinct. Otherwise I can't tell by the colors yet, though the first picture makes me think drake. The others make me more wishy washy.

 

[Olive Hill]

How old is Jet? Where'd you get "him"?

Young mallards/rouens will be colored in the same manner as a female with their first set of feathers, so that's not uncommon. That said, Jet looks... odd. He's just not quite right. I almost wonder if he is a mule...?

 

[tia]

Jet is around 4 months old. A woman found him wandering around inside the airport in Valdez, Alaska. No mama duck in site. She brought him to me because she knew I had ducks. After a month I took him to the bird rescue center in Anchorage and they said he was domestic and would never fly, but his wings grew and he started to fly... I had them clipped. I don't know of anyone in this area that has domestic mallards (it is a small area) so it is a mystery where jet came from, or what he is, or isn't. : )

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Hmmm, nothing certain, but I'm thinking most likely a drake.

 

[tia]

I thought Mallards were a little bigger, but maybe he is not full grown yet.

 

[katharinad]

I'm not sure about the mallard thing, because of the belly color and head shape. It could be a Gadwall.

 

[desertdarlene]

Wow, Jet sure turned out to look a lot different than I expected when you first posted photos of him.

At 4 months, he should have started to get his green head. He also has an orange bill and most 4 month old drakes I've seen all have green or yellow bills.

However, it looks like he's a hybrid afterall. His long back reminds me of a muscovy duck a little bit.

I just posted a photo on my blog of "Ducky", a three month old male mallard drake and you can compare his colors to yours. He's the one on the left in the trio of ducks in the photo near the bottom or today's post and has his eye closed.

**edited due to typo

 

[Olive Hill]

By 4 months you should be seeing at least some of Jet's final plummage if he is male. His bill says female and is mallard/rouen type, but his body doesn't look right to me and his plumage suggests a cross of some kind. I think Jet is a mutt. I lean toward mule based on the first picture, but I'm not sure. I'd say probably a mutt if not a mule though. If he is indeed a mule I'd lean towards female. That would explain the quiet voice and the plumage together.

As far as the "it's domestic, it won't fly" ... baloney! I hope that particular employee of the bird rescue center isn't too awfully well-paid and/or supposed to be a bird expert. Yikes!

 

[poultry for me]

Drakes have a feather at their tail that curls upward. This feather is called the sex-feather. It distinctly shows the sex of a duck. I cannot tell in the picture if Jet has a sex-feather, so that is for you to decide or post another pic. If Jet never grows a sex-feather than Jet will be a duck, if Jet does grow a sex-feather than "he" will be a drake. HTH