You Tell Me

[GreenTimber]

We ended up shooting this bird the other morning in the timber, at first noone noticed it but after we started looking at it we found a few things a little odd.

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/4642/hendrake1tz2.jpg

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/6840/hendrake2oy1.jpg


A Comparison

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/7445/hdcomparisonji9.jpg
At first we thought it was greenhead that just wasnt plumed at the end of January since it was rather warm here in AR in the month of December but that wasnt the case after a closer look.

[Mick Hanan]

Looks like a hermaphrodite to me. It isn't a common occurance in wild populations, but it definitely occurs. Neat bird. Congratulations

[CurrituckBoy]

Very interseting

Michael

[James Staten]

Jason told me about that bird and it definitely looks like a he-she to me.

Congrats on the odd duck. One question would that go into the legal bag as a hen or a drake hmmmmmmmmmm.....

James Staten

[Chris Smith]

That is a really old hen mallard which has stopped producing female hormones. It's kind of like an old lady with whiskers. It's supposed to go into the bag as a hen.

[Jason Zerrer]

If you would have said October in Saskatchewan I'd say just an immature drake. I've shot them looking just like that. Waaay late even for a late hatch bird to still have immature plumage I'd think. Cool deal.

[James Staten]

thanks for clearing up the air Chris. I would have thought it would have to go as a hen in the bag.

James Staten

[Chris Smith]

No problem, James. Never the less, that is one old bird! It makes you wonder how many times she has made the trip down and back...

[Cody Anderson]

Very neat photos I would get that mounted. Are you?

[Jason Pollack]

Well Chris I don't know how many times she made the trip but she made her last one when she came through our spread. We were surprised and a little puzzled.

[Chris Smith]

I bet Jason... I too was a bit puzzled by the first one that I harvested. For the longest, I was sure that it was a he/she. That just confirms that you guys can fool those old wise birds that have seen it all... Great work and congrats!

[David Rearick]

Definitely an old hen with a hormone imbalance. The bill coloration and markings are the easiest way to identify it from a juvie/eclipse drake.

[Jason Zerrer]

The warden and I would have to have a loooong talk if he insisted on counting as a hen. How in the world can you be expected to identify that as anything but a drake on the wing? That could be quite a situation.

[Dcahl13]

Very neat looking bird.

[mallardslayer0826]

nice bird

[Mick Hanan]

The warden and I would have to have a loooong talk if he insisted on counting as a hen. How in the world can you be expected to identify that as anything but a drake on the wing? That could be quite a situation.

I'd have to agree Jason. More times than not it would depend on the C.O. Most of them would side with you and say that it would be included as a drake because any reasonable law enforcemnt agent would never expect the average guy to identify it in hand, much less in the air. It's not probably right but the "average" hunter can't identify birds very well and even though it is sad that this is the case, LE agents understand this. Contrary to popular belief there are a lot of reasonable C.O.'s out there.

[Walt McCord]

Did you kill this duck on Sandy Bayou? There was one killed like this on Sandy Bayou in Phillips County Arkansas.

[GreenTimber]

no we killed it near Russellville, AR

[Swampy]

A few things to clear up...Eclipse does not = Juvie...Juvenile plumage and Eclipse are 2 different things..Eclipse plumage happens to most Northern species of ducks after the breeding period(early summer)..However, many species of ducks retain their eclipse appearance well into the winter..BWT and Northern Shovelers are the most common..As with many molting process' plumage change is triggered hormonally...An imbalance of hormones can trigger either an early or late eclipse stage or even retain the eclipse plumage for long periods of time...A "he she" mallard is VERY rare indeed....The only thing to make me think that it is in fact a frigid hen..Is the bill coloration

[C Havens]

Yeah that looks like a he/she to me. Congratulations on the odd duck very interesting.

[iluvfish2]

What about the white on the wings? Does it extend beyond the 2ndarys? When I went through an ID session this fall (done by one of the guys who used to train the MI DNR CO's) he swore by the white going to or extending beyond for telling drakes from hens mallards, this included the different plumages and ages.