Age and sex determination of mallards Anas platyrhynchos in autumn

• The mallard is a well-known and important species in migration ecology, game management,and epidemiology. Males and females are generally easily told apart, whereas ageing isproblematic, due to individual timing of the moult cycle and lack of easily defined agecriteria. From examination and photographic documentation of mallards caught within a longtermringing program at Ottenby Bird Observatory (56°12′N, 16°24′E), we describe ninecharacters of plumage and bare parts to be used for ageing mallards in autumn. The reliabilityof these characters was tested by letting experienced bird ringers determine putative age ofbirds from photos. Age determination from any single character proved to be uncertain, as therate of correctly assigned mallard photos of each character was in the range of 51-85% formales and 48-89% for females. For both sexes, the lowest figure represented post-humeralsand the highest represented tertials. Rectrices, tertial coverts, and greater coverts also hadreasonably high scores (71-85%). With all characters at hand, 91% of the males and 95% ofthe females were correctly identified to age. As young mallards, with the progress of prebreedingmoult (completed from October onwards), acquire tail and tertials identical to adults,untypical individuals are better not assigned to an age category.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Ecology

Ekologi

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)