As a differentiating characteristic, it comes down to the stripe over the eye and whether it goes all the way past the eye toward the beak, or JUST up to the eye. Mallard/mottled has a stripe that goes all the way to the beak, wood duck has a stripe from the back, ending at the eye.
Our "baby duck"has a stripe that ends at the eye. So he's clearly a wood duck.
Which is good, because we named him Warren: Warren BD (baby duck), like Warren Beatty. LOL :D
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| Mallard type duckling - Stripe past the eye |
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| Wood duckling - stripe UP TO the eye |
