Waterfowl ID - This one has me stumped!

The bill makes me think its a widgeon cross. Was it male or female? Im guessing female widgeon/mallard cross. Flying alone or with other ducks?
 
What did you think it was when you pulled the trigger?
I did not shoot this bird. It was sent to me asking me with how much I waterfowl hunt and am involved with waterfowl hunting if I knew. So far I'm stumped and don't have a for sure answer. Some thoughts posted here have pushed me to make a few calls and I've been digging deep in research and so far I still got nothing. The bill is what is throwing everyone off. The muscovy existing in this bird is likely based on many opinions but no one can explain the bill.
 
This picture of our pet duck probably won't answer the question, but some might find it amusing. We had some "flying mallard" domestic ducks, which were hard to distinguish from wild mallards at first glance. Our neighbor had some muscovies, don't know the details of their heritage but the were large with a lot of black on them, and they could also fly. Anyway, we were nearly certain our pet duck "woody" was a hybrid from the mallards and muscovies, the only one to survive that clutch. He apparently imprinted on humans; he liked to be around us and loved to go swimming with us. He also liked the dogs and would run his bill through their fur like he was grooming them (as in picture), we guessed he was picking out fleas? Even our worthless Irish setter would lay down and let the duck go over him, some bird dog!

Anyway, when he got to be about a year or a little older he finally decided he liked the company of the other ducks on the river, and quit following us around.

Just a final comment about the mystery duck. A complicating factor is there is a wide spectrum of domestic ducks of mallard origin, and muscovy origin, so there is probably a large variation in what a mallard x muscovy hybrid can look like, and that could include bill color. So you might never get a perfect answer. But my guess is mallard x muscovy.


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I did not shoot this bird. It was sent to me asking me with how much I waterfowl hunt and am involved with waterfowl hunting if I knew. So far I'm stumped and don't have a for sure answer. Some thoughts posted here have pushed me to make a few calls and I've been digging deep in research and so far I still got nothing. The bill is what is throwing everyone off. The muscovy existing in this bird is likely based on many opinions but no one can explain the bill.
Hello, can’t believe my bird made it on this page. I shot it in Northern California. I am a very new hunter so I was stumped too. It was in a group of wiegons. Thank u for looking into this.
 
It almost looks like it contains a variant of about four species to me possibly. Black duck, pintail, gadwall, and bald plate.
 
Here are pics of the head next to a mallard
It seems to have some widgeon (baldpate) characteristics in the bill and feathers on the head. But nothing definitive. Think it would just be counted as "a duck", in your bag limit as opposed to one of the species that has restrictions as part of the aggregate limit. A "no pointer" as we used to say!
 
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