# Woody drake?



## Randall 80 (Dec 23, 2017)

Have you ever saw a woody drake with a beak this color and with a yellow ring around the eye? I've never saw one like this and am curious . Can someone tell me what is going on?


----------



## kevbo3333 (Dec 24, 2017)

I have heard of really old hens that start to look like drakes because they quit producing estrogen. Can you post a picture of the body? Either way it's a cool looking bird.


----------



## 27metalman (Dec 24, 2017)

That is neat.  Never seen that either. A mutation or maybe a male that can't reproduce? Hopefully someone will post that knows.


----------



## T-N-T (Dec 24, 2017)

That's cool.


----------



## Randall 80 (Dec 24, 2017)

I don't have a pic of the body. It was the same color and size as the other drakes, just the head was different.


----------



## across the river (Dec 24, 2017)

It seems way to late in the year for it, but I would have to say that is just an immature drake.   They will have the yellow eye lid, white around their eye, and dull bill when they are pluming out from the duckling feathers.  It does seem out though that he has completely gotten his colors this late in the year.


----------



## little rascal (Dec 25, 2017)

*Juvie*



> It seems way to late in the year for it, but I would have to say that is just an immature drake.


Probably this^^^^^^^ they call them Summer Ducks.
Might have been born late.


----------



## ugaringneck (Dec 25, 2017)

possibility of it being an XXY duck?  basically a hermaphrodite... the amount of white feathering that is around that eye, and the solid yellow eyelid, is not like an eclipse drake... it's plumage of a hen, while obviously other indicators show plumage of a drake.  maybe biologically it's both?


----------



## across the river (Dec 25, 2017)

ugaringneck said:


> possibility of it being an XXY duck?  basically a hermaphrodite... the amount of white feathering that is around that eye, and the solid yellow eyelid, is not like an eclipse drake... it's plumage of a hen, while obviously other indicators show plumage of a drake.  maybe biologically it's both?



The first year drakes have a yellow eyed lid and the white feathers around it until they start to plume out.   The eye also starts out brow and turn red as it develops.  Like I said earlier, it seems late to still have that plumage, but the white feathers and yellow eyelids are absolutely found on young drakes before and during their first molt.  I've never seen it on a older "eclipse" drake.   Here is one picture of many you can find on the internet.

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-no...k-aix-sponsa-in-eclipse-plumage-82175794.html


----------



## kmckinnie (Dec 25, 2017)

He would of been a good one next year. 

Thanks for sharing. Enjoyed the convo of what it is.


----------



## ugaringneck (Dec 25, 2017)

across the river said:


> The first year drakes have a yellow eyed lid and the white feathers around it until they start to plume out.   The eye also starts out brow and turn red as it develops.  Like I said earlier, it seems late to still have that plumage, but the white feathers and yellow eyelids are absolutely found on young drakes before and during their first molt.  I've never seen it on a older "eclipse" drake.   Here is one picture of many you can find on the internet.
> 
> http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-no...k-aix-sponsa-in-eclipse-plumage-82175794.html



Still saying, there’s a discernible difference between drake eclipse (young or not) and what this duck is 
Eclipse drake:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r3eI-4iSeiA/UiIXI4D14LI/AAAAAAAAJmY/MeYv6iIPn9Y/s1600/IMG_5696.JPG

http://www.danielslim.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/portrait-drake-wood-duck.jpg

https://objects.liquidweb.services/images/201407/bill_hubick_wood_duck_calvert_md_20080816.jpg

http://homeforaday.org/gallery/birds/waterfowl/ducks/dabblers/wd/young_wood_ducks.jpg

Meanwhile, intersex wood ducks/hermaphroditism/extra X chromosome 

https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3938/15627560055_1aff1a3965_b.jpg


http://northwestbirding.com/Images14Oct/dawson_creek_wood_duck_intersex_10-19-14.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7349/12507975455_61a2762b02.jpg



Looks an awful lot like the one poster shot...


----------



## BaldofPate (Dec 26, 2017)

It might be one of those millennial, left wing, Bernie Sanders drakes.  You know, the ones that still haven't figured out if they want to be a dude or have surgery and be a split tail.


----------



## across the river (Dec 26, 2017)

ugaringneck said:


> Still saying, there’s a discernible difference between drake eclipse (young or not) and what this duck is
> Eclipse drake:
> 
> 
> ...



Between the two of us we posted three different pictures of birds that looked just like his from various places.  I would find it very difficult to believe there are that many pictures floating around the internet of hermaphrodite woodducks.  I guess it is possible it could be an old hen /injured hen that started developing male plumage, but she is looking almost too much like a drake for that to be real probable. The bottom line is we will never know for sure unless he sent it out for testing.  Oh, and by the way, birds don't have X and Y chromosomes.


----------



## ugaringneck (Dec 26, 2017)

You win the point on the chromosomes... ZZ vs ZW says google... but you don’t win the point on that being a young eclipse... It’s just undeniably not what they look like... there’s something else happening here than the duck just being late to fully plume


----------



## MullisCC (Jan 13, 2018)

I’m a little late on this but I’ll share what I found. I’m no biologist but I killed one just like yours a few years back and was stumped. The best explanation that I found was that birds by default carry the male plumage but the hormones in the females dull the plumage to help nesting birds hide from predators. A hen with little or no estrogen for whatever reason will trend back toward a male colored plumage. The bill color will tell you male or female. Hope this helps.


----------



## mlandrum (Jan 15, 2018)

I believe it is LBERAL-DEMOCRATIC  induced species


----------

