Odd Mallard

That one iwould venture to say is a trans-duck not a hormonal hen.

 

look at those accents on the joints of each toe!!! Could it be a hybrid that's just showing more mallard characteristics??

 

Good eye alan

 

I shot a drake mallard on the last Saturday of the season in January it was very small had a lot of black spots on the breast like this one ,the white and black spotted area extended way up the throat clear to the lower mandible the speculum was greenish cast ,feet very small ,more woodduck sized and it had a ''ponytail'' mohawk crest of dark cinnamon redbrown,the bill was much shorter than normal and mostly black. I'm guessing greenwing mallard hybrid [for mine] this one I don't know.

 

I think it looks like a first-year drake that had some sort of accident when it was young. If that happened then it would have immediately stopped molting during the time while it was healing. (Feathers that had already started growing would finish, but no new ones would be lost.)
If the days had become noticeably short by the time it finished getting well then that would be enough to postpone the rest of the molt until the next year.

Old hens that are losing their hormones look similar, but there are some subtle differences. One thing to look for to help identify aging hens is weird blended-looking feathers that are neither male nor female colored, especially if the entire feather is like that.
That bird seems to have either/or male or female feathers, and that usually means that the molt was suddenly interrupted.

 

it also looks like a young drake to me