Mallard Facts

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

What they look like: Both the male and the female have bright orange feet and a purple-blue rectangle of color where the wing joins the body. It is easy to tell the males from the females because the male mallards have brownish feathers, a green colored head, a white collar around the neck, a purple breast, and curly tail feathers. The female is only brown and white and is smaller than the male.

How big are they? Length: 20-28 inches; Wing tip to wing tip: 30-40 inches

Where are they? The mallard is common in North America, Northern Central America, much of Europe, Asia, and Africa. In summer the mallard can be seen throughout Alaska and much of Canada and the northern United States.

Where they live: Mallards are found on shallow bodies of fresh water, on lakes, marshes and even flooded fields.

What they eat: Mallards feed by "dabbling" and upending, meaning that they tip their bodies into water, bill first, tail in the air to reach below the surface with its bill. They can then reach plants that grow in the shallows of ponds, lakes, streams and swamps. They do not usually dive below the surface, except that young birds or molting (flightless) adults sometimes dive to avoid danger. Their diet consists mainly of seeds of grasses, pond weeds and other water plants. They will also eat insects, small fish, tadpoles, freshwater snails, fish eggs, and even frogs.

Did you know?

• The female Mallard has between five and 14 light green eggs that she incubates for 30 days. The ducklings are lead to water as soon as their soft, downy feathers are dry and they first fly about 2 months after hatching.
  
• Most Mallard ducks live for one or two years, but some can live as long as 16 years!
  
• Mallards swim with their tail held above the water and, when they are alarmed, they spring directly out of the water and into the air.