Opening day in south zone of New Mexico was frustrating due to poor shooting and some mental glitches (becoming more frequent with age), but got this interesting combo. Last year I shot a banded Mexican duck drake and several greenheads, today I shot a banded mallard drake and a Mexican duck hen. The hen Mexicans are a bit harder to tell apart from mallards, but the speculum is a different color, the bill is a bit different (more solid color), and the feathers under the tail are much darker. Over the years I'm sure I shot many Mexican hens and assumed they were mallards, I've been a little more diligent with the ID lately.
. Heck years ago I had to convince a Federal game warden that a gadwall hen was not a mallard, people like that need another job!
