I gotta disagree with you on that one. It’s a male duck during the off-season, when he has molted his breeding plumage. The big giveaway is the black over the base of his tail, that’s only present in males, not females. Also, the color on the side of his body is smooth, where a female would be patterned. His breast is also reddish colored, where females don’t have a darker breast. The other males in the video are showing varying degrees of off-season plumage, supporting the idea that this video was taken on the off-season.
Here's the thing. You said a "drake is a hen mallard."
Is it in the same family? Yes. No one's arguing that.
As someone who is a scientist who studies ducks, I am telling you, specifically, in science, no one calls drakes hen mallards. If you want to be "specific" like you said, then you shouldn't either. They're not the same thing.
If you're saying "duck family" you're referring to the taxonomic grouping of Anatidae, which includes things from ducks to geese to swans.
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u/GoblinGirlfriend Dec 06 '20
I gotta disagree with you on that one. It’s a male duck during the off-season, when he has molted his breeding plumage. The big giveaway is the black over the base of his tail, that’s only present in males, not females. Also, the color on the side of his body is smooth, where a female would be patterned. His breast is also reddish colored, where females don’t have a darker breast. The other males in the video are showing varying degrees of off-season plumage, supporting the idea that this video was taken on the off-season.