mallare or wood duckling ?

[poultrykeeper08]

What do you guys think ?

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I think I vote for mallard myself. I Google Imaged wood and mallard ducklings. The wood ducklings seem to have a "square" or "blocky" head. Your little ducklings head seems to be rounded more like your typical mallard. Comparing photos, the wood ducklings seem to be more silver with the black/brown markings and the mallards are more of a green/tan with the black/brown markings. I personally think you have a mallard.

This is a good picture of a wood duck head.

Note the shape of the head and the underlying color(not the markings) as compared to this mallard duckling.

-Kim

 

[LinckHillPoultry]

I'd say mallard.

 

[Guitartists]

That's a perfect example of the difference in the eye stripe.... half stripe for wood duck and full stripe for mallard.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I would also note the claws of both species. Wood ducks should have much larger claws than the mallards. If you look closely at the first photo(of the wood duck) you will see it has sharp curled claws and your mallard just seems to have average sized claws.

Hope that helps. Still think it is a mallard, myself. Which is better because they are cared for very similar to our domestic birds, whereas I hear wood ducks can be a bit different. Your keeping of a mallard would most likely be less questioned(legal wise) than a wood duck.

-Kim

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Mallard.