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[Mark Hall in Huntsville]

Dont worry, these are not going to continue on into the gene pool. I have posted what I think they are but I'm not 100% sure.

Cinnamon Teal x Bahama Pintail

Cinnamon Teal x Bahama Pintail

Cinnamon Teal x Bahama Pintail

Cape Teal x Chestnut breasted teal female

Cape Teal x Chesnut breasted teal male

Redhead x Bahama Pintail I thought this was a cool photo after I looked at it and saw the Redhead surfacing right when I took the picture.

Sharp Winged Teal x Ringed Teal

Wood Duck x Canvasback


These two shots are of a very subtle hybrid, look at the white markings behind the beak of this shoveler.

The top bird is a Wood Duck x Widgeon and the other I am sure is a Wood Duck x Chestnut Breasted Teal. I have been wrong before though....

This is the Wood Duck x Widgeon again.

Wood Duck x Mallard

Wood Duck x Mallard


Hottentot Teal hybrids

another shot of the oddball bird he turned out to be a cross between a Northern pintail and some sort of diver.

Mark Hall

[Resolution]

These are important, instructive photos. Thank you for posting them.
When everyone that rears, buys or trades waterfowl actually is well-familiarized with every potential hybrid, it leads to a more educated consumer/stewardship base. Judging from skins collected in nature, waterfowl are nearly as likely to hybridize in nature as in captivity. Much can be learned about speciation and even the formation of new genera by learning about the biology of hybrids.

Of course no one is encouraging their generation. They should however, be able to appreciate how new species have been created when new islands have formed or what have you.
_________________
- Judge by cause, not by effect.

[Jan Harteman]

Look what I found on my computer!
Really don't know the source of these images...





Hybrid Wood duck (male) X Chiloé wigeon (female)

Looks familair

By the way:

[Frank]

Nice picture, it can show the result of hybrids. I'd like also to say you thank you as you show that you'll be responsible and keep them away from pure breeding pool, that's a great point!

Thanks for sharing

Frank

[mnord]

Mark,
Don't have much experience with waterfowl but when I first scrolled to the picture of the bird with question marks, right above the two shoveler photos, I thought I could see canvasback in it. Is that a possibility?

Monte

[Mark Hall in Huntsville]

The shoveler had a much larger white band his first breeding season and this year it is a little smaller but he has had it for two years straight all the way through. I had thought that maybe he was the product of a cross that got bred back due to the hens looking the same. What I mean is New Zealand Shoveler x NA Shoveler and the hen then being bred back to a North American and this is the product. The white is exactly where it would be on a New Zealand shoveler but just not as prominent....

[Shelan Sekora]

As I see there are male and female hybrids, have any of them reproduced young? Or would they be steril. Have any of the hens layed eggs. I think the cape teal is crossed with a chestnut teal.. It looks as if there is a male and female ..
Shelan

[Kingfisher]

Dear Mark,

I am not an Aviculturist but a birder with an interest in correct ID of hybrid waterfowl, as odd hybrids are also regularely encountered in the wild. While i absolutely agree that hybrids have to ommitted from breeding, I like your documentation of these accidental hybrids because in my opinion information like this is needed by Birders and Aviculturists alike-to ensure correct identification of such oddities!

I think can confirm some of your Hybrid IDs and give you proposals for some others:

the first three photos (1,2,3) to me are indeed Bahama Pintail x Cinnamon Teal,

the following 2 photos (4,5) are Cape teal x Chestnut teal

Identical birds are described and shown with photos in the Gillham books on hybrid waterfowl:

Gillham B., and Gillham, E. 1996. Hybrid Ducks, A Contribution Towards an Inventory. B. L. Gillham, Wallington, England.

Gillham B., and Gillham, E. 2002. Hybrid Ducks, the 5th Contribution Towards an Inventory. B. L. Gillham, Wallington, England.

The following photo (6) with the surfacing Redhead also has a hybrid which I would see as an Aythya x Anas. I'd suggest this could be Redhead x Bahama pintail due to bill coloration, iris color, coloration of tail feathers.

The photo (7) following this shows a male hybrid sharpwinged x ringed teal as you already said. This bird has features of both parents, and therefore is straightforward identifiable.

The next photo 8 is a difficult one, it reminds me most of female hybrids Wood duck x Aythya sp., but has a longer and darker bill and a slightly different head shape and less contrasty head pattern than other such hybrids I have seen ... therefore I would assume the Aythya parent was a canvasback. So this bird to me is a possible Wood duck x Canvasback...

Will comment on the others later--- but i am also looking forward to see your other hybrid photos , especially the Hottentot teal hybrid ...

Best Regards, Jörn

[Kingfisher]

The shoveler on pictures 9 and 10 is a difficult bird- if a hybrid at all, it can not be a first generation hybrid Australian/NZ x Northern, but rather a backcross to northern shoveler.

However , have you considered that this may just be a bird accidentally showing some traits of Anas rhynchotis?- as rhynchotis is said to have evolved from clypeata (and some moulting normal clypeata also show a faint pale half moon in the face).

For the upper bird in picture 11 and the bird in picture 12 (probably the same one) I would agree with Jan Harteman: These are Chiloe wigeon x Wood duck in my opinion. The beak pattern and colour , mainly bluegrey with reduced black , indicates parentage of a wigeon species. If american or eurasian wigeon were involved, the undertail coverts should be black, not rusty colored. Chiloe wigeon has white undertail coverts and wood duck partly black, partly rusty coloured undertail coverts. In some other hybrids of species with white undertail coverts and wood duck , the resulting hybrids undertail coverts have also been rusty colored.

The lower Bird in picture 11 is very interesting as it is cleary something different from the upper bird. It might indeed be wood duck x chestnut teal but to clarify this additional photos would be needed. Here is a link to a mount of a presumed Wood duck x Chestnut teal :

http://www.artisticwaterfowl.com/woodduck_chestnut_teal_cross.htm

Picture 13 and 14 are also very interesting: You have labelled them wood duck x mallard at the moment, what they are clearly not.
Compare with these hybrids Wood duck x Mallard:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/hybridbirds/discuss/72157605262076961/

Male hybrids wood duck x mallard have a yellow beak, and in most cases white outer tail feathers. Also the white markings on your bird are wrong for Mallard x wood duck.

Your bird looks closest to this hybrid presumed to be Wood duck x Pintail:

http://waarneming.nl/soort/photos/18987


Regards, Joern

[Kingfisher]

Concerning your Shoveler,
Here is a bird which I assume to be an F1 hybrid Northern x Australian /NZ shoveler:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/hybridbirds/discuss/72157607466766340/



As an aside, hybrids of Northern shoveler x Bluewinged Teal show a surprising superficial similarity to Australian /NZ shoveler. As the hybrid combination Northern Shoveler x Bluewinged Teal is not too uncommon in Europe and North America (At the moment, I could provide weblinks to 12 birds if anybody is interested?), I thought, it is a good ID to show this also here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/hybridbirds/discuss/72157601790654095/

[Mark Hall in Huntsville]

updated with Hottentot hybrid pictures

[Resolution]

i just realized i was confusing hottentot teal with pygmy geese
im really retarded these days
_________________
- Judge by cause, not by effect.

[Kingfisher]

Ouch! that new duck is really something odd! I would suggest (I am not sure however) that one parent is a diving duck of genus Aythya-maybe lesser scaup?
Are you sure about the Hottentot teal parentage? I see some traits that look goode for Hottentott teal parentage , but the few Hottentot teal hybrids I have seen so far had a dark-capped, pale cheeked head pattern (This seems also fairly dominant in some hybrids of other species with that capped head pattern-for example puna teal or silver teal).
Another alternative for the second parent might be ringed teal?

have you any photos where the bird shows its speculum?

The second photo of the other duck oddball confirms it is a Bahama pintail hybrid (just see tail colorationand shape) with an Aythya duck- however, it seems to have gotten darker on head and back than I thought from the first photo ...so maybe the Aythya parent is not redhead as i assumed earlier? I´d love to see this in full plumage ...

Joern