Mallards are a type of duck

The Mallard, a Wild Duck (scientific name of Anas platyrhynchos) is a beautiful wild game bird that breeds throughout America, Europe, North Africa, Asia. More recent was their introduction to New Zealand and Australia. Mallard feathers are gorgeous.

Mallards are in the Waterfowl family Anatidae.

Male Mallards are called Drakes. A Drake has an irredecent green head and streamlines multi-colored grey on wings and feathers. Drakes belly down feathers are a beautiful light shade of greys. The female Mallards have mostly brown and speckled plumage.

Mallards natural habitat is in the wetlands, including lakes, creeks, rivers, streams, ponds, reservoirs, flood plains, everglades, and other mostly freshwater preserves. The ducks eat mostly water flora, small fish, vegetation, berries, seeds, water plants and other small animals. The species is gregarious.

Scientific classification for Mallards

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Anas
Species: A. platyrhynchos

“Mallard” is derived from the Old French malart or mallart meaning “wild drake”. Mallards are a common duck species that will often breed with other ducks in their same genus. Mallards sometime interbreed with the American Black Duck and Northern Pintail Duck. Due to their wide range and interbreeding abilities, the Mallard has some genetic differences from one region to another. Genetically, it is easy for Mallards to mix breed and thus create genetic mutations with varied colors and plumage.

Mallards live all across the Northern Hemisphere from North America and Alaska on down to Mexico, including Hawaii Asia, Europe, Iceland, Greenland, Scandinavia, Siberia, Japan, Eastern China, and Northern Africa. Mallards prefer the marsh lands near bodies of water and can be found in both freshwater and saltwater wetlands that provide the aquatic vegetation that they feed upon.

In general, Mallards are around 20-28″ long with a wingspan of up to 40 inches and range in weight from 1-4 pounds. The males Mallards are generally larger and have brighter colors than the female Mallard ducks. Mallards reach maturity after the first year of life and live around 20 years.

Male Mallards have a distinct nasal call and whistle. Female Mallards have a deeper quack more typical of what you might expect from a duck.

Mallards are omnivores meaning they eat meat and plants. They feed on everything from frogs and fish to plants and berries. Scientist note that females tend to each more meat during breeding – obviously for the protein….and so it follows that much like humans, ducks choose a diet that meets their nutritional needs and reflects what is available as a food source in their given location.

Female Mallards, like most ducks, lay eggs in a nest that they prepare. After the eggs hatch, the baby ducks (called ducklings) will join the mother duck for a swim. This happens within weeks of being born. Many ducklings are lost to predator during this time because they are so small and many predators live in the water and air. Female Mallards lays eggs in the Spring, then join up with the males in June. The mating ritual among Mallards can be fairly brutal in that the males will wear down the females until they can fly anymore. In doing this, they bear their weight down upon the female and hold on by biting them on the neck. Breeding makes the female Mallards vulnerable to predators because they are worn out and need time to recover. The average size clutch of eggs is about 10. The female sit on the eggs and incubate them for about a month. The baby ducks are called fledglings. They tend to hang close to their mother for warmth and protection, and the mother Mallard teaches the ducklings about their habitat and how to forage for food. When the ducklings grow up and mature, they begin to learn about flying and the migratory routes of the species.

The nature of Mallards in breeding, genetic diversity, and adaptability to environmental extremes has made them very successful in the world. Mallards often co-habituate with man and benefit from the natural habitat that man creates. Its common for people to wait for ducks to cross the street. Ducks live in our lawns, on our golf courses, in the fields, irrigation avenues, ditches, ponds, irrigated lands, pastures, and woodlands. Just like people, Mallards interbreed when they are introduced into new areas by humans. The species is in some ways similar to man’s adaptability as a species.

Sources argue that about genetic pollution of the genetic bloodlines of other species by the highly adaptable and genetically capable Mallards. Some of it is real such as the efforts towards conservation of African and Eurasian Migratory Waterfowl. In this effort, the Mallards threatened to bread out indigenous species of ducks which many argue would lead to extinction of the indigenous waterfowl.

In other ways, Mallards and their hybrid compliments are intruding upon the habitats, nesting sites, roosting sites, and food resources of the indigenous species.