When you blend in with the background. #Wordless Wednesday #Mallard Hybrid

Posted on January 14, 2026 by Linda Schaub

Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.

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About Linda Schaub

This is my first blog and I enjoy writing each post immensely. I started a walking regimen in 2011 and in 2013 I decided to create a blog as a means of memorializing the people, places and things seen on my daily walks. I have always enjoyed people watching, so my blog is peppered with folks I meet or reflections of characters I have known through the years. Often something piques my interest, or evokes a pleasant memory from my memory bank, so this becomes a “slice o’ life” blog post. I respect and appreciate nature and my interactions with Mother Nature’s gifts is also a common theme. Sometimes the most-ordinary items become fodder for points to ponder over and touch upon. I retired in March 2024 after a career in the legal field. I was a legal secretary for almost 45 years, primarily working in downtown Detroit, then working from my home. I graduated from Wayne State University with a degree in Mass Communications (print journalism) in 1978, though I’ve never worked in that field. I would like to think this blog is the writer in me finally emerging!! Walking and writing have met, shaken hands and the creative juices are flowing in Walkin’, Writin’, Wit & Whimsy. I hope you think so too. - Linda Schaub
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55 Responses to When you blend in with the background. #Wordless Wednesday #Mallard Hybrid

  1. bushboy's avatar bushboy says:
    January 14, 2026 at 5:02 am

    Just ducky Linda

    Liked by 2 people

  2. singlikewildflowers's avatar singlikewildflowers says:
    January 14, 2026 at 5:54 am

    Whoa!! Pretty cool. How do you spot these cool animals?!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Linda Schaub's avatar Linda Schaub says:
      January 14, 2026 at 8:06 pm

      Yes, they are very cool to see Esther. They are big ducks too, although you can’t really tell that from the picture. They are lots of Pekins and Mallards at Elizabeth Park.

      Liked by 1 person

      • singlikewildflowers's avatar singlikewildflowers says:
        January 18, 2026 at 4:31 am

        I haven’t seen ducks in a long time! We haven’t had taken many walks lately to the parks. We’ve been so busy with school and just living life that going out for nature walks have fallen by the wayside. But I thought of you and your squirrel feeding last Saturday when Ellis and I took a small bag of walnuts to feed local squirrels. I threw one at a squirrel and it hit him…he went right for it and looked for more. It was such a cute sight!

        Liked by 1 person

      • Linda Schaub's avatar Linda Schaub says:
        January 18, 2026 at 7:15 pm

        Well I envy you seeing the squirrels because it is so icy and bitter cold that I won’t get down there this week either. We have had a bitter cold weekend and the next two days will be 40 mph winds, snow and -15 or lower windchills. This is not a great Winter. I was working on next Sunday’s post about a trip to Fair Lane, then I’ll have two more posts about that same day coming up. It was a very long walk and the last part was taken at a duck pond and there were lots of Mallards, all brown, in eclipse phase, plus Wood Ducks, similarly in eclipse phase. I only knew they were Wood Ducks as they had white rings around their eyes. I hope you can keep feeding your local squirrels – I remember you said the duck pond had dried up if I remember correctly.

        Like

  3. J P's avatar J P says:
    January 14, 2026 at 6:59 am

    You don’t see many camo ducks!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Barbara Rodgers's avatar Barbara Rodgers says:
    January 14, 2026 at 8:17 am

    I can see the mallard shape, but the coloring makes wonder what kind of duck the other parents was. Nice shot!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Linda Schaub's avatar Linda Schaub says:
      January 14, 2026 at 8:13 pm

      Thank you Barbara! They are fairly large ducks, like the domestic ducks usually are. There are a lot of Pekin ducks and Mallards at Elizabeth Park, so I don’t know if those breeds would be the parents, or perhaps this is a domestic duck. There are actually a few of them at this park. They are unique though.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Anne Mehrling's avatar Anne Mehrling says:
    January 14, 2026 at 10:23 am

    That one looks a bit rough, like he’s had a hard time.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Linda Schaub's avatar Linda Schaub says:
      January 14, 2026 at 8:33 pm

      Yes, he might be moulting as this was in the Summer when I took the photo. They are fairly large ducks, a Mallard-Pekin cross and they don’t fly as they are so big. There are several ducks like this at Elizabeth Park hanging out in the canal.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Stevens's avatar Stevens says:
    January 14, 2026 at 4:07 pm

    Miss Linda………………………………………….I’ve never seen a Mallard like that ……………………cool

    Liked by 1 person

  7. trumstravels's avatar trumstravels says:
    January 14, 2026 at 5:53 pm

    He’s hiding from his wife ! She probably wants him to do something 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Eilene Lyon's avatar Eilene Lyon says:
    January 14, 2026 at 8:25 pm

    Not ex-quackly a purebred!

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Rebecca's avatar Rebecca says:
    January 14, 2026 at 9:52 pm

    A very interesting duck. Great find. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog's avatar Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog says:
    January 15, 2026 at 9:16 pm

    Wow! Now that’s a duck of a different color! One of my parrots is a hybrid… he’s a hybrid called a Catalina Macaw.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Linda Schaub's avatar Linda Schaub says:
      January 15, 2026 at 9:38 pm

      They have a few of these Hybrid Mallards at Elizabeth Park and at this park there are Pekins too and lots of Mallards. These are big ducks so they mostly swim in the canal, waddle around and I never see them flying. I suspect if there was a predator they could fly, but as a general rule they don’t.

      Like

  12. Pepper's avatar Pepper says:
    January 16, 2026 at 4:54 am

    An Interesting looking duck. Great find, Linda.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Prior...'s avatar Prior... says:
    January 17, 2026 at 9:02 pm

    great duck cpature and he does blend in and seems so relaxed

    Liked by 1 person

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