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The Mallard duck is the most recognizable of all the species of ducks with the male sporting its beautiful dark green head and yellow bill it stands out from all the rest. Like many bird species the male is much more attractive than the female as with the Mallard the female is a brownish color and noticeably larger than the male.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

The male Mallard (also known as the drake) has a reddish brown chest and a gray colored body to go with its colorful green head and neck. The male's weight between two and a half and three pounds and measure twenty to twenty five inches in length, they have a wingspan of two and a half to three feet.

The female Mallard is a dreary brown color with a small spot of blue on her wings and slightly larger than the male weighting three and half pounds to four pounds and measures twenty three to twenty seven inches in length, the females have a wingspan that is just over three feet.

HABITAT & DIET

The Mallard duck inhabits many parts of Northern American including the United States, Europe and Australia. These ducks can be found waddling through a public park snatching up people's left over lunches or floating in a river, lake, pond or any source of fresh water. At the same time it is not uncommon to see them floating in salt water or living in grassy wetlands. There population is so large and spread out they adapt to whatever nature has to offer them for a home.

While left over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is not an ideal meal for the duck they do eat them which makes them seem like scroungers which in reality they are not but they will eat just about anything.

The diet nature intended for the Mallard duck is made up of grass, plant vegetation, fish and small amphibians.

SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

The Mallard ducks are social animals and in many cases have been almost domesticated by humans over the years. In the wild, the male ducks are territorial and live with other males except during breeding and courting season when they reunite with their life long breeding partner.

The females are more vocal than the males and quack loudly to communicate while the males will make soft grunting sounds or whistle.

BREEDING & NESTING

The Mallard duck is monogamous but only in the sense that the male breeds with his female partner first then pursues other females. Who are "unpaired" once they become paired with a male they will not breed with other males.

The pairing of the ducks occurs in the fall months and the pair court during the winter months and breed in the spring.

The nest is prepared using feathers from the female's chest and plants and pieces of vegetation.

The female lays between two and twelve eggs, which are round in shape and off white to a light green in color. The incubation period is twenty to thirty days and not all the eggs hatch at the same time it's not uncommon for there to be a four or five day period between the first hatching and the last hatching.

PREDATORS

The Mallard ducks biggest predator is humans and the sport called hunting. While they are also hunted by everything from alligators to foxes, surprisingly their average lifespan is ten years.

These ducks are considered the largest bird population in the world and are in no danger of extinction.

Sources
http://anima ls.nationalgeographic.com/anim als/birds/mallard-duck.html
htt p://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllA boutBirds/BirdGuide/Mallard.ht ml

Learn more about this author, Tammy L Mahan.
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