Below is a photo of a male mallard-Mexican duck hybrid that I saw in early November, 2001, at Agua Caliente Park near Tucson. He was with a flock of mallards, many of which were Mexican duck hybrids. Like the Sweetwater ducks farther down this page, the appearance of the Agua Caliente hybrids varied from almost pure "Mexican" to pure "mallard". The duck in the photo below lacks a fully iridescent head but retains most of the mallard's body plumage. The tail feathers, however, are not recurved, as in a pure mallard.

Below is the same duck as above, as well as a female with which he seems to have paired up. One possibility that I have considered is that the apparent mallard-Mexican duck hybrids are merely males that have yet to achieve their full breeding plumage -- or that they are juveniles whose breeding plumage will not be complete until their second year. However, some of the male hybrids appear to have almost full "Mexican" plumage -- and both adult and juvenile male mallards would be farther along in their refeathering than to look like Mexican ducks in November. Additionally, other male mallards are already in their full breeding plumage.

I will continue to document these Agua Caliente ducks (if they remain), to see how their plumages might change. I took many more photos than these, but had technical difficulties resulting in mostly useless photographs. I hope my next efforts produce better results.

Below is a photograph of an unusual male mallard-Mexican duck hybrid. I discovered this duck in late February 2001 at Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson. This hybrid is probably the result of breeding between a pure mallard and a mallard-Mexican duck cross, resulting in the unusual preponderance of Mallard characteristics.

Below is another photo of this Mallard-Mexican Duck hybrid.

Next is a photo of the second mallard-Mexican duck hybrid I have observed at Sweetwater Wetlands. This male has fewer Mallard characteristics -- only a few flecks of green on the head.

Below is another photo of this second mallard-Mexican duck hybrid. He is in front of a pure mallard male, making for a good comparison.