Mallard Drake.
The New Zealand mallard population is derived from 17 small importations of gamefarm mallards from England between 1870 and 1930, and two later imports of birds and eggs from a gamefarm in Connecticut, USA. Acclimatisation Societies subsequently bred and released over 30,000 mallards throughout New Zealand until 1974, by which time the mallard had become the most common waterfowl in the country. Extensive hybridisation with the native grey duck followed soon after their initial release and the mallard competitively excluded grey ducks from most wetlands, especially those in and near urban environments and in pastoral landscapes. As a consequence of both their gamefarm origin and hybridisation, the plumages of New Zealand’s mallards are highly variable, especially the females, and males in breeding plumage are duller and less striking than wild northern hemisphere mallards. Original public domain image from Flickr