Hunter Bags One-of-a-Kind All-White Duck in Missouri

Logan Gleissner, of Kansas City, Kansas, was hunting in Southwest Missouri last fall when he bagged an oddball duck: a white teal with a shockingly orange bill and feet.

The unusual bird flew into his spread on private land near the Grand River on November 21, 2024. Gleissner was hunting with a buddy at a timber hole near flooded corn. That morning, they shot a regular greenwing, a couple of mallards, and a pair of woodies. Gleissner sent his dog to recover one of the woodies, while his buddy and his buddy’s dog went looking for the other.

“I was waiting for them to get back, kind of standing up in the blind. Then, from the other side, a bird came flying in low,” Gleissner tells Split Reed. “I saw white. I did not know what it was at first, so I didn’t shoot. It landed in the decoys, and I was like, ‘that’s a duck.’”

When the bird popped up, Gleissner shot it and sent his black Lab Ember to fetch it up. “She came back with this glowing white bird with orangish-melon-colored feet and bill. It was something I’d never seen before.”

From the duck’s size, Gleissner could tell it was a teal. At first, he thought it might be an albino, but he noticed pink around the eyes and other markings on its feathers. He suspected it was either leucistic—a genetic disorder similar to albinism that is characterized by partial but not total loss of pigmentation—or hybridization, perhaps with a domestic species.

Gleissner shared photos of the duck with his friends and on online forums, but there was no consensus as to what made it so strange. At the recommendation of a buddy, Gleissner decided to send it to duckDNA, a community science initiative by Ducks Unlimited and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) that studies the genetics and hybridization of North American Waterfowl. The program analyzes genetic samples from duck hunters, including unique birds and potential hybrids.

This September, duckDNA announced the results of its analysis of Gleissner’s bird on its Facebook page. “Admittedly, our duckDNA team was stunned and a bit perplexed. Its small size immediately suggested a Green-winged Teal influence, and the almost entirely white plumage indicated a strong expression of leucism. But the yellow bill and feet were unlike anything we had ever seen in a wild bird of this size.”

Ultimately, Dr. Philip Lavretsky and his team at UTEP identified the birds as 100 percent American green-winged teal. The unique coloration was confirmed as a result of leucism. “This tiny duck might well be the most strikingly leucistic bird we have ever had the pleasure of sampling,” wrote the program on Facebook.

Gleissner was glad to hear that his trophy was fully wild. He’s already sent it to a taxidermist to be mounted. “I was stunned and excited when I recovered the duck,” he says. “Duck hunting is one of my passions. This is a once-in-a-lifetime bird for me.”