Birdguycrc, I think you're right. I did a search and the Central Park Zoo apparently does have this rare bird. I'm surprised that they'd have such a rare bird in with white-naped cranes though. Those cranes can be aggressive.... Good catch!
Great shots, RiverValleyRunner. This duck is not a female Tufted Duck or a hybrid bird. It is a male Baer's Pochard (Aythya baeri), which is related to the Tufted Duck. It's a critically endangered bird from Southeast Asia, likely less than 300 left in the wild.
It's not unusual in zoological parks to find hybrid ducks and this may be one of them. It certainly has some characteristics of a mallard. It's overall too dark though and while that bill has the shape of a mallard's bill it isn't the right color. Maybe a mallard x scaup hybrid? It does have some characteristics of a tufted duck so it could be a mallard x tufted. Tufteds aren't native here, but since this is in a zoo/park it could be at some point in the past that a mallard managed to slip some of its genetics into the family line. They're good at that....grin.
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