The mallard is a large and stocky bird with a large head and a very short tail. The total body length can reach 62 centimeters, and the wingspan is 1 meter. The maximum weight is 1.5 kilograms. Females are slightly smaller than males.
Male color
The bird has pronounced sexual dimorphism. Simply put, males and females are outwardly well distinguishable. This is especially noticeable in spring and winter. After all, it is during these seasons that birds form pairs.
Drake mallard duck in the mating season has a dark greenish color on the neck and head, with a golden hue. All this beauty on the neck is framed by a white edging. The back is brown, with a grayish tint and dark strokes, which become even darker towards the back of the body. The chest is chocolate brown and the belly is greyish. The wings are painted brown with a gray tint, with bright purple and white borders.
A black curl flaunts on the tail of the male. All other feathers are absolutely straight and colored light gray.
After the molt passes, the male looks very similar to the female, there is no longer a contrasting color,brown and black shades predominate. Only breasts with a yellowish or chestnut color give away that it is a male bird.
Female color
Which mallard duck? Throughout its life it has the same pattern and is almost indistinguishable from other types of ducks.
The upper part of the body is painted in red, brown and black tones. The lower part, the area under the tail and above the tail has a brownish-red color, buffy, with brown spots, without clear boundaries. The chest is colored ocher or straw.
Similar to the male, there are shiny mirrors on the wings, and dark stripes across the eyes on the muzzle.
The bird has orange paws (males), the females are slightly paler, dirty orange.
Habitat
In the Euro-Asian part of the planet, this bird species is represented everywhere, except for the highlands, Scandinavia, where it is too cold, and the treeless part of the Russian tundra. In Siberia, the mallard is found up to Northern Kamchatka and Salekhard.
In Asia, birds of this species live on the shores of the Yellow Sea, in the south of the Himalayas (on the slopes), in Iran and Afghanistan. The bird can be found on the Kuril and Japanese islands, the Aleutian and Commander. Also present in Hawaii, Greenland and Iceland.
In North America, there is a population in the east, right up to Nova Scotia and the state of Maine (USA). In the south of the territory, the settlements are distributed to the states bordering Mexico, although the bird appears here only inwinter time.
Introduced intentionally or accidentally in New Zealand, South East Australia and South Africa.
Migratory or not?
Depending on the habitat, the mallard duck can lead a nomadic lifestyle. So, in the north of Russia in winter, birds move closer to the North Caucasus and the Don basin. Birds living in Turkey fly closer to the Mediterranean Sea.
For example, birds living in Greenland lead a sedentary lifestyle. In the Icelandic Islands, most of the population stays there for the winter, and some flies to the British Isles.
The birds that live in urban environments also lead a sedentary lifestyle. A vivid example is representatives of the species living on non-freezing ponds in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In Western Europe, they can even nest in attics and live there year-round.
Food
The mallard is considered an omnivorous representative of birds. She eats both plant and animal foods. Although it has been noticed that most of all birds love to feast on aquatic plants: hornwort, sedge and duckweed. In summer and autumn, he consumes cereal crops.
Duck eats mollusks, frogs, their caviar, fish fry and insects among representatives of the fauna.
From birds there is even an agricultural sense, they destroy plant pests and eat weeds.
Birds have the hardest time in winter, food of animal origin is practically absent in the diet. They feed mainly on aquaticplants.
In urban conditions, the bird quickly gets used to feeding and feeds almost exclusively on human handouts.
Lifestyle
Perhaps every person has seen a photo of a mallard and even seen a bird in the parks. But few people know that birds do not like to dive and do it in exceptional cases - when there is danger or injury. Getting food under water, the bird plunges its head and body as deep as possible and repels with both paws, but does not dive. Hunting is carried out mainly at a depth of up to 35 centimeters.
From the water, the bird lifts its body relatively easily. During the summer, it makes the characteristic sounds of “twist-twist”.
The birds can live alone and in pairs, in small groups.
A duck walks slightly waddling, although it runs well on the ground.
Reproduction
Mallard duck is ready for breeding after 1 year of age. For migratory birds, breeding takes place in spring, for sedentary birds, in autumn.
There are more drakes in flocks. This is due to the fact that in the process of incubation, many females die. In light of this, there are very often fights between males for the right to own a female.
Despite the fact that, in principle, the drake chooses, if the female liked a particular drake, she can express her interest by circling around him.
In the process of mating, the birds also perform a certain “ritual”, twitch their head, beak, the female stretches her neck. At the end of the process, the drake performs"lap of honor" around the chosen one, then the couple bathes for a long time.
The overwhelming majority of males disappear from the field of view of the female as soon as she begins to incubate eggs. Although there are cases when the drake even participated in the process of raising offspring.
The female has a nest in a secluded place, in thickets, hollows, bushes or under trees. If the nest is on the ground, then this is a small hole with fluff laid out in it.
The female lays eggs in the evening, one every day. The incubation process begins after the laying of the last egg. There can be from 9 to 13 of them. The average weight of one egg is from 25 to 46 g, depending on the period. Incubation lasts from 22 to 29 days.
If other people's eggs fall into the nest, then the female quickly notices this, because although all common mallards have very similar eggs, they still differ in color, size and shape for each female. As a rule, nests where ducks throw their eggs remain ownerless, and all offspring die. If the nest is ruined before the end of laying, then the duck makes a new one and starts the laying process again.
Chicks
Until the chicks have fledged, their down has a dark olive color, with yellowish spots on the loin and wings. From the beak comes a dark and narrow stripe that ends at the ear.
After the babies have fledged, they resemble a female. However, boys have a wavy pattern, brownish spots and stripes.
At the time of birth, the baby weighs no more than 38 grams, it dries out in a couple of hours. And swim and walkbabies can already 12-16 hours after birth. The first days the chicks spend a lot of time near the mother, but feed on their own.
An interesting fact is that chicks from the same nest recognize each other from the first day, and if a stranger approaches them, they drive him away. So does the mother.
Babies stay with their mother until they are 8 weeks old.
Enemies
It's almost impossible to see a picture of a mallard hunted by anyone other than a human. In fact, the bird has many enemies in its natural environment. These are almost all representatives of owls, hawks and falcons, crows and eagles, even some types of gulls.
Some mammals don't mind eating duck meat. A fox, a marten, a raccoon dog, skunks and an otter can hunt. These animals also often destroy nests.
Lifespan
It is believed that the maximum, how long a duck can live is 29 years. But on average, birds live no more than 10 years. The maximum life spans are observed in birds living in conditions of limited freedom and in an urban environment, that is, where there is practically no threat.
Despite everything, the threat from humans, birds and animals, the bird population is stable.
