18. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

Here's the first of the ducks, the very familiar Mallard.A pretty quick drawing tonight as I spent most of the evening cooking an epic curry.

Mallard, ©brendan.lally, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Mallard sketch.

The Mallard is the ancestor of white domestic farm ducks, so you often see the weird results of them interbreeding:

Manky Mallard, Bakewell, 25/09/2006.

Manky Mallard, Bakewell, 25/09/2006.

The first one looks like it has more domestic duck in it, the second more Mallard. I think they were in eclipse at the time as well which just compounds the weirdness!