Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea x South African Shelduck Tadorna cana hybrid

South African Shelduck is also known as Cape Shelduck.

This bird looked a lot like a Ruddy Shelduck, but it didn't seem to be quite right. On close inspection I noticed the bird had dark vermiculations on its rear flank feathers and rear upper scapulars - features that should not occur on pure Ruddy Shelduck. It also had a grey spot in the middle of the crown. I've seen a few Ruddy Shelducks with some grey on the head and wondered about their genetic purity, but this one was more extreme than most. South African Shelduck (often known as Cape Shelduck) has a grey head of course, and also shows dark vermiculations where this bird had. It is perhaps hard to be completely sure that it isn't a second or subsequent generation backcrossed hybrid with a different Shelduck species, but as South African and Ruddy often come together in collections I suspect Ruddy x South African hybrid is the more likely and simplest solution.

probable Ruddy Shelduck x South African Shelduck hybrid (with Egyptian Goose), Wretham (Norfolk, UK), 17th February 2017

The poor photos of the next bird don't offer many clues but in the field it struck me as being distinctly dark and chestnutty compared to Ruddy Shelduck, especially towards the rear where there seemed to be blackish shading. This reminded me of South African Shelduck. On the head a grey patch was present just behind/above the eye and a smaller less distinct grey patch in front of the eye. Not visible from the side but more obvious from the front when its head was down was a small darker grey patch on the centre of the crown between the eyes. It was a male, but lacked any hint of a dark neck collar - not sure if pure Ruddy Shelduck always shows this in January or not?

This bird looked extremely similar to the one above and although separated by just over two years, the sites are only 17.4 miles apart and I think it's quite likely that both involved the very same bird. This bird was seen with Egyptian Geese, the one above was paired to an Egyptian Goose... maybe this pair is responsible for the various records of what look like Egyptian Goose x Ruddy Shelduck hybrids around the county in recent months?

probable Ruddy Shelduck x South African Shelduck hybrid (with Egyptian Geese), near Bittering (Norfolk, UK), 25th January 2015

For comparison, here are photos of the parent species.

escaped Ruddy Shelduck, Beetley (Norfolk, UK), 2nd March 2014 and captive South African Shelduck, Martin Mere (Lancashire, UK), 26th December 2014

For more photos of these species follow the links below:

• Ruddy Shelduck
• Australian Shelduck