🐾 Mallard Duck

Mallard Duck

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Who it is

• Scientific name: Anas platyrhynchos
• Family & relatives: A water bird in the duck, goose, and swan family, and the ancestor of most farmyard ducks.
• How to spot it: A medium water bird; the male has a shiny green head and yellow bill, while the female is speckled brown.

Its body & abilities

• Size: About 50 to 65 cm long with a wingspan near 80 to 100 cm.
• Weight: Roughly 0.7 to 1.6 kg (1.5 to 3.5 lb).
• Body & adaptations: It has waterproof feathers, webbed feet for paddling, and a flat bill with tiny combs to strain food from water.
• Top speed: A strong flier that can reach about 65 km/h (40 mph) in the air.
• Strength: It can burst straight up from the water into flight, a handy trick for escaping danger quickly.
• Senses: Sharp eyesight with a very wide view and good hearing to spot danger all around.
• Growing up: Fluffy ducklings hatch from eggs, can swim within a day, and learn to fly by about two months old.

Where it lives

• Habitat: Ponds, lakes, rivers, marshes, and city parks, always near calm fresh water.
• Where in the world: Across North America, Europe, and Asia, and introduced to many other places.
• Territory: During nesting a pair keeps to a small patch of water, but in winter many gather together in big flocks.

What it eats

• Diet: An omnivore that eats plants and small water animals, dabbling at the surface for its meals.
• Favorite foods: Seeds, water plants, insects, worms, snails, and small fish or tadpoles.
• How it hunts: It tips upside down with its tail in the air, called dabbling, to reach food just below the surface.

How it behaves

• How it moves: Swims smoothly with webbed feet, waddles on land, and flies strongly over long distances.
• When it is active: Active by day and at dawn and dusk, feeding, swimming, and preening its feathers.
• Family life: Social birds that gather in groups called flocks, especially outside the nesting season.
• How it talks: The female makes the classic loud 'quack', while males give softer raspy calls, plus head bobs to signal.
• Babies: The female lays about 8 to 13 eggs in a hidden nest and keeps them warm for around 28 days until they hatch.

Its place in nature

• Role in nature: Spreads seeds and feeds on insects; foxes, hawks, and large fish hunt ducks and their young.
• Conservation: Listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, one of the most common and widespread ducks in the world.
• Dangers: Dies mainly from predators, harsh weather, and losing wetlands where it lives.

Life & legacy

• How long it lives: Usually 5 to 10 years in the wild, and longer when safe and well fed.
• In our culture: A friendly favorite in parks and picture books and the model for most cartoon and toy ducks.
• Where to see it: Almost any pond, lake, or park with water across the northern world, easy to watch up close.
• Fun fact: A duck's feathers are so waterproof that it can dive under and pop back up completely dry.