Mystery Duck at the Maryland Zoo

Has to be some sort of hybrid, I think? Color-wise it reminds me of a least grebe, but the shape is obviously wrong for that.

The shape looks much like a Common Merganser (Mergus merganser). I'd say it could be a melanistic Common Merganser, but they wouldn't have white bellies. Definitely a hybrid, maybe with a Domestic Duck???

@red river hog I looked up Merganser hybrids and it seems they have an affinity for goldeneyes, but none of the hybrids seemed to match this one very well. I think you may be right, but there were multiple ones there. This one had yellow eyes while the others (I think there were 3 others if I remember correctly?) had brown eyes. Did the zoo just adopt a whole nest of hybrids?

I feel like it is an eclipse Hooded Merganser with the photo's colour and contrast ramped up.

@Chlidonias Hmm, you may be right. The brown-eyed ones seemed more like dark females. I didn’t mess with the contrast on this one too much but it might have also been the lighting?

That would make more sense since I know there are Hooded Mergansers in this aviary.