Mallards

Mallards at the Harlem Meer of Central Park in New York City.

 

Mallards are large ducks with hefty bodies, rounded heads and wide, flat bills. Like many "dabbling ducks", the body is long and the tail rides high out of the water giving a blunt shape. aIn flight, their wings are broad and set back toward the rear.

Male Mallards have a dark, iridescent-green head and bright yellow bill. The gray body is sandwiched between a brown breast and black rear. Females and juveniles are mottled brown with orange-and-brown bills. Both sexes have a white-bordered, blue "speculum" patch in the wing.

Mallards are "dabbling dicks" - they feed in the water by tipping forward and grazing on underwater plants. They almost never dive. They can be very tame ducks especially in city ponds, and often group together with other Mallards and species of dabbling ducks.

--- allaboutbirds.org

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