HI:
I saw this quote from Alvaro Jaramillo about surface-feeding duck hybrids
in North American Birds 58(2):187: " shows the (A Gadwall x Mallard hybrid
he photographed in Ontario, Canada on 2 January 2004)
'Baikal Teal' facial pattern of many dabbling duck hybrids, even sometimes
in hybrid Mallard x American Black Ducks; it appears that this pattern may
be ancestral and is expressed in situations where a dominant pattern is
not present to mask it."
Has anyone heard of this conclusion before? So if you are looking at a
Baikal Teal you might be seeing what the ancestral surface-feeding duck(s)
looked like?

--
Ian Paulsen
Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
A.K.A.: "Birdbooker"
"Rallidae all the way!"