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My daughter thinks this duck is striking the famous pose from the movie Titanic.

Mallard

McFaul Environmental Center

Wyckoff, NJ

The red-crested pochard (Netta rufina) is a large diving duck. The scientific name is derived from Greek Netta "duck", and Latin rufina, "golden-red" (from rufus, "ruddy"). Its breeding habitat is lowland marshes and lakes in southern Europe and Central Asia, wintering in the Indian Subcontinent and Africa. It is somewhat migratory, and northern birds winter further south into north Africa.

The adult male is unmistakable. It has a rounded orange head, red bill and black breast. The flanks are white, the back brown, and the tail black. The female is mainly a pale brown, with a darker back and crown and a whitish face. Eclipse males are like females but with red bills. They are gregarious birds, forming large flocks in winter, often mixed with other diving ducks, such as common pochards. They feed mainly by diving or dabbling. They eat aquatic plants, and typically upend for food more than most diving ducks.

A wheezing veht call can be given by the male. Series of hoarse vrah-vrah-vrah calls can also be heard from females.

Red-crested pochards build nests by the lakeside among vegetation and lay 8–12 pale green eggs. The birds' status in the British Isles is much confused because there have been many escapes and deliberate releases over the years, as well as natural visitors from the continent. However, it is most likely that they are escapees that are now breeding wild and have built up a successful feral population. They are most numerous around areas of England including Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire. (Wikipedia)

Another trip to Slimbridge in early April. A lot of the over Wintering birds had left and the outer fields and Tack Piece Lagoon were very quiet.

Weather was a bit duller than expected with just short periods of sun.

A male Northern Shoveler on the Tack Piece Lagoon. The Shovelers were a bit elusive today.

The Northern Shoveler is my favourite Duck that we see in the UK.

The Northern Shoveler, or Shoveler, is a Dabbling Duck and is common in northern areas of Europe, Asia and North America.

The Shovelers bill has developed a comb like structure on its edges which acts like a sieve to filter out food from the water's surface.

The mallard (/ˈmælɑːrd/ or /ˈmælərd/) (Anas platyrhynchos) is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae. The male birds (drakes) have a glossy green head and are grey on wings and belly while the females (hens or ducks) have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black or iridescent blue feathers called a speculum on their wings; males especially tend to have blue speculum feathers. The mallard is 50–65 cm (20–26 in) long, of which the body makes up around two-thirds the length. The wingspan is 81–98 cm (32–39 in) and the bill is 4.4 to 6.1 cm (1.7 to 2.4 in) long. It is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks, weighing 0.72–1.58 kg (1.6–3.5 lb). Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes. This species is the main ancestor of most breeds of domesticated ducks.

The female lays eight to thirteen creamy white to greenish-buff spotless eggs, on alternate days. Incubation takes 27 to 28 days and fledging takes 50 to 60 days. The ducklings are precocial and fully capable of swimming as soon as they hatch.

The mallard is a very adaptable species, being able to live and even thrive in urban areas which may have supported more localized, sensitive species of waterfowl before development. The non-migratory mallard interbreeds with indigenous wild ducks of closely related species through genetic pollution by producing fertile offspring. Complete hybridization of various species of wild duck gene pools could result in the extinction of many indigenous waterfowl. The wild mallard is the ancestor of most domestic ducks, and its naturally evolved wild gene pool gets genetically polluted by the domesticated and feral mallard populations.

Mallards usually form pairs (in October and November in the Northern Hemisphere) until the female lays eggs at the start of the nesting season, which is around the beginning of spring.[68] At this time she is left by the male who joins up with other males to await the molting period, which begins in June (in the Northern Hemisphere). During the brief time before this, however, the males are still sexually potent and some of them either remain on standby to sire replacement clutches (for female mallards that have lost or abandoned their previous clutch) or forcibly mate with females that appear to be isolated or unattached regardless of their species and whether or not they have a brood of ducklings.

For more information, please visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallard

Dabbling at ebb tide

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Close up study of Canada Goose in flight, preparing to land on water, West Yorkshire.

Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages ...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.

Canada Goose Notes:

Canada Geese eat grain from fields, graze on grass, and dabble in shallow water by tipping forward and extending their necks underwater. During much of the year they associate in large flocks, and many of these birds may be related to one another. They mate for life with very low “divorce rates,” and pairs remain together throughout the year. Geese mate “assortatively,” larger birds choosing larger mates and smaller ones choosing smaller mates; in a given pair, the male is usually larger than the female. Most Canada Geese do not breed until their fourth year; less than 10 percent breed as yearlings, and most pair bonds are unstable until birds are at least two or three years old. Extra-pair copulations have been documented.

During spring, pairs break out from flocks and begin defending territories. Spacing of these pairs is variable and depends on availability of nest sites and population density; where population is large, even after a great many fights birds may end up nesting in view of one another, and some populations are semi-colonial.

Canada Goose threat displays may involve head pumping, bill opened with tongue raised, hissing, honking, and vibrating neck feathers. When an intruding goose doesn’t retreat, geese may grab each other by breast or throat and hit each other with their wings. Fighting may result in injuries.

Female selects nest site, builds nest, and incubates eggs. She may brood goslings in cold, wet, or windy weather and while they’re sleeping for first week after hatching. Male guards the nest while female incubates.

Soon after they hatch, goslings begin pecking at small objects, and spend most of their time sleeping and feeding. They remain with their parents constantly, though sometimes “gang broods” form, especially in more southern latitudes. These can include at least two broods, and sometimes five or more, that travel, feed, and loaf together, accompanied by at least one adult.

Young often remain with their parents for their entire first year, especially in the larger subspecies. As summer wanes birds become more social; they may gather in large numbers at food sources; where food is limited and patchy, may compete with displays and fights.

In winter, Geese can remain in northern areas with some open water and food resources even where temperatures are extremely cold. Geese breeding in the northernmost reaches of their range tend to migrate long distances to winter in the more southerly parts of the range, whereas geese breeding in southern Canada and the conterminous United States migrate shorter distances or not at all. Individuals tend to return to the same migratory stopover and wintering areas year after year. Spring migration may be difficult for observers to track because of over-wintering birds and movements between night time resting areas and feeding areas, but the bulk of spring migratory movements tend to move north behind the retreating snow line, where the temperature is averaging 35 degrees.

Migrating flocks generally include loose aggregations of family groups and individuals, in both spring and fall. Flights usually begin at dusk, but may begin anytime of day, and birds fly both night and day. They move in a V formation, with experienced individuals taking turns leading the flock. All About Birds Notes.

Pacific Black Duck, seeking something tasty underwater.

Younghusband Murray River South Australia

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Activists for birds and wildlife

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Mallard ducks on the river Wallington in Fareham Hampshire. They are called Dabbling Ducks as they mostly feed off the top of the water and don't dive for food

As they continued their relentless pursuit of "new mud" to dabble in, apparently swimming for position was an option, however frowned upon by those overtaken. The race continued for several minutes.

A week later and another trip to Slimbridge on the 1st of April.

A male Eurasian Teal on the Tack Piece Lagoon.

The Eurasian Teal, also known as the Teal or Common Teal, is the smallest dabbling duck in Europe.

The male has a bright Chestnut head and neck with a wide metallic Dark Green stripe running from the front of the eye to the neck which is bordered with White which extends to the base of the Dark Grey bill. The flanks and mantle are vermiculated with Pale Grey and Black, the speculum is Metallic Green bordered by White. The upper breast is Pale Cream with dark spots, the underparts are White with slight barring on the abdomen and vent. The legs and feet are grey.

Rough freehand sketch of a fictional scene depicting an abandoned trolleybus of British outline in a scrap yard. I haven't drawn anything like this for years; it's purely of the top of my head, so a dabble in the dark .

'Three’s a crowd'. A pair of Gadwall dabbling ducks in synchronised flight...and a tagger along.

Note: Fewer than 2,000 pairs nest in the UK.

Swilllington Ings, West Yorkshire.

Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages ...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.

The Gadwall is a dabbling duck, feeding at the surface of shallow water by 'upending' - putting its head down and its bottom up! Only a small number of Gadwall nest in the UK, but large numbers winter here.

Species information

Category : Waterfowl

Statistics

Length: 48-54cm

Wingspan: 90cm

Weight: 700-830g

Average lifespan: 4 years

Conservation status

Classified in the UK as Amber under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2015). Protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981.

When to see : January to December

About

A fairly common dabbling duck found throughout the year, the gadwall is only a little smaller than a Mallard. It nests in small numbers in the UK, on freshwater lakes with lots of vegetation, but can be seen in large numbers in winter at reservoirs, lakes, flooded gravel pits and coastal wetlands.

How to identify

Male Gadwalls are a grey-brown colour with a black rear end. Both males and females can be distinguished by the white patches on their wings.

Distribution

Mainly found in south and eastern England, but can be seen anywhere.

Habitats

FreshwaterCoastalWetlands

Did you know?

Gadwall can sometimes be seen following coot around. After the a coot has dived down to pick waterweed, the opportunistic gadwall will grab some for itself! TWT Notes.

Beaver County, Alberta

IMG_1250_19-03-30

I posted the male and female

Dabbling with some street photography today. Love the way the dog is reflecting this mans mood. They were both compensated for this photograph.

First time I've actually seen one of these....

The garganey is a scarce and very secretive breeding duck in the UK. It is smaller than a mallard and slightly bigger than a teal. The male is most easily recognised with a broad white stripe over the eye. In flight it shows a pale blue forewing. It feeds by 'dabbling'. Garganeys are listed as a Schedule 1 species.

A trip to WWT Slimbridge mid October. Weather was sunny intervals.

More images of this Common Pochard that swam out from the undergrowth on South Lake and started to dive feeding off the bottom, its head getting muddier and muddier.

The Common Pochard, or Pochard, is a medium sized Diving Duck which feed by either diving or dabbling.

They often mix with other diving ducks, such as the Tufted Duck, to which they are known to hybridise.

View Large On Black

Here's some fun N. Shoveler facts courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (click here to read more):

-- The bill of the Northern Shoveler is about 6.5 cm (2.5 inches) long. The bill has has about 110 fine projections (called lamellae) along the edges, for straining food from water.

-- Northern Shoveler pairs are monogamous, and remain together longer than pairs of other dabbling duck species.

John Heinz NWR

This wigeon may have been trying to blend in to avoid the long trek up to Alaska.

Teals are small dabbling ducks. Males have chestnut coloured heads with broad green eye-patches, a spotted chest, grey flanks and a black edged yellow tail. Females are mottled brown. Both show bright green wing patches (speculum) in flight. They are thinly distributed as a breeding species with a preference for northern moors and mires. In winter birds congregate in low-lying wetlands in the south and west of the UK. Of these, many are continental birds from around the Baltic and Siberia. At this time, the UK is home to a significant percentage of the NW European wintering population making it an Amber List species.

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Sheffield Park

I went down to the MN River Valley again today to see what and if any birds might be coming in. Once again a few mallards in the pools of open water in the woods. This was a cooperative couple. The MN River is still frozen. The Mississippi has been open for weeks. Saw a few redwing blackbirds in the marsh grasses. Spring can't be far away! I hope.

The last day of April 2025 and another trip to WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.

A male Northern Shoveler has a wing stretch while feeding on the Tack Piece Lagoon.

The Northern Shoveler is my favourite Duck that we see in the UK.

The Northern Shoveler, or Shoveler, is a Dabbling Duck and is common in Northern areas of Europe, Asia and North America.

The Shovelers bill has developed a comb like structure on its edges which acts like a sieve to filter out food from the water's.

Woodland Waters is set in a 72 acre park in a beautiful valley.

I noticed these two dabbling in a little recessed section of the lake. I took the first image at a greater length to get some of the area around them and the reflections, then quickly zoomed in for a second shot. If you look closely there are little differences, so you can see it is not a crop of the original.

Taken with my Canon Telephoto Zoom 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM EF Lens and apart from being framed in Photoshop, is SOOC.

Better viewed in light box - click on the image or press 'L' on your keyboard.

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WWT Llanelli

Dabbling in the Occult, doing some Spells & Potions, contacting the Dead, ya know, just girly things.

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@ GOLD DOUCE - May 2 - 4

A trip to WWT Slimbridge mid October. Weather was sunny intervals.

A male Northern Shoveler touches down on the Tack Piece Lagoon.

The Northern Shoveler is my favourite Duck that we see in the UK.

The Northern Shoveler, or Shoveler, is a Dabbling Duck and is common in northern areas of Europe, Asia and North America.

The Shovelers bill has developed a comb like structure on its edges which acts like a sieve to filter out food from the water's surface.

The Mallard, or wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand and Australia.

Taken at Brown's Ferry Park.

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Dabbling. The guy has more look changes than any other Marvel superhero...

Still dabbling in the Star Wars Constraction Figure Genre here's custom First Order Stormtrooper FN 2199 with Riot Baton and Shield ready to stomp traitors of the First Order- watch the vid for more info... www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VET7aHy6yM

Sony ILCE-7R

300mm F2.8

The mallard or wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands and South Africa. This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae.

The male birds (drakes) have a glossy green head and are grey on wings and belly, while the females (hens or ducks) have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black speculum feathers which commonly also include iridescent blue feathers especially among males. Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes. This species is the main ancestor of most breeds of domesticated ducks.

The mallard is a medium-sized waterfowl species although it is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks. It is 50–65 cm (20–26 in) long (of which the body makes up around two-thirds), has a wingspan of 81–98 cm (32–39 in),[16] and weighs 0.72–1.58 kg (1.6–3.5 lb). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 25.7 to 30.6 cm (10.1 to 12.0 in), the bill is 4.4 to 6.1 cm (1.7 to 2.4 in) and the tarsus is 4.1 to 4.8 cm (1.6 to 1.9 in).

The breeding male mallard is unmistakable, with a glossy bottle-green head and white collar which demarcates the head from the purple-tinged brown breast, grey brown wings, and a pale grey belly. The rear of the male is black, with the dark tail having white borders. The bill of the male is a yellowish orange tipped with black while that of the female is generally darker ranging from black to mottled orange. The female mallard is predominantly mottled with each individual feather showing sharp contrast from buff to very dark brown, a coloration shared by most female dabbling ducks, and has buff cheeks, eyebrow, throat and neck with a darker crown and eye-stripe.

Owing to their highly 'malleable' genetic code, Mallards can display a large amount of variation, as seen here with this female, who displays faded or 'apricot' plumage.

Both male and female mallards have distinct iridescent purple blue speculum feathers edged with white, prominent in flight or at rest, though temporarily shed during the annual summer moult. Upon hatching, the plumage colouring of the duckling is yellow on the underside and face (with streaks by the eyes) and black on the back (with some yellow spots) all the way to the top and back of the head. Its legs and bill are also black. As it nears a month in age, the duckling's plumage will start becoming drab, looking more like the female (though its plumage is more streaked) and its legs will lose their dark grey colouring. Two months after hatching, the fledgling period has ended and the duckling is now a juvenile. Between three and four months of age, the juvenile can finally begin flying as its wings are fully developed for flight (which can be confirmed by the sight of purple speculum feathers). Its bill will soon lose its dark grey colouring and its sex can finally be distinguished visually by three factors. The bill colouring is yellow in males, black and orange for females. The breast feathers are reddish-brown for males, brown for females. The centre tail feather is curled for males (called a drake feather), straight for females.[citation needed]

During the final period of maturity leading up to adulthood (6–10 months of age), the plumage of female juveniles remains the same while the plumage of male juveniles slowly changes to its characteristic colours.[citation needed] This plumage change also applies to adult mallard males when they transition in and out of their non-breeding eclipse plumage at the beginning and the end of the summer moulting period. The adulthood age for mallards is 14 months and the average life expectancy is 3 years, but they can live to twenty.

In captivity, domestic ducks come in wild-type plumages, white, and other colours. Most of these colour variants are also known in domestic mallards not bred as livestock, but kept as pets, aviary birds, etc., where they are rare but increasing in availability.

A noisy species, the female has a deeper quack stereotypically associated with ducks. Male mallards also make a sound which is phonetically similar to that of the female, but it is a deep and raspy sound which can also sound like mek or whak. When incubating a nest, or when offspring are present, Females vocalise differently, making a call which sounds like a truncated version of the usual quack. They will also hiss if the nest or their offspring are threatened or interfered with.

The mallard is a rare example of both Allen's Rule and Bergmann's Rule in birds. Bergmann's Rule, which states that polar forms tend to be larger than related ones from warmer climates, has numerous examples in birds. Allen's Rule says that appendages like ears tend to be smaller in polar forms to minimize heat loss, and larger in tropical and desert equivalents to facilitate heat diffusion, and that the polar taxa are stockier overall. Examples of this rule in birds are rare, as they lack external ears. However, the bill of ducks is very well supplied with blood vessels and is vulnerable to cold.[citation needed]

Due to the malleability of the mallard's genetic code, which gives it its vast interbreeding capability, mutations in the genes that decide plumage colour are very common and have resulted in a wide variety of hybrids such as Brewer's duck (mallard × gadwall, Anas strepera).

Source:

Wikipedia

All along the backwater,

Through the rushes tall,

Ducks are a-dabbling,

Up tails all!

Kenneth Graham "The Wind In The Willows"

Pair of Grey Teal synchronised feeding in a lagoon; Oxley Creek Common.

He has dabbled in chemistry for quite awhile. His motive video showed him owning a research facility that allowed him to legally test these things with his family. The poison used was made by him to be indetectable, painless, and to take about a week for it to work. He needed to test it on someone, as he couldn't before, so he decided to use the killing game as an excuse to do so. After his execution, everyone was shocked, and the gravity of the killing game had set in.

...in the River Nadder, Salisbury

The last day of April 2025 and another trip to WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.

One of the six Gadwall Ducks seen on the Tack Piece Lagoon today. They were showing very well. more images to come.

The Gadwall is a very grey-coloured dabbling duck, a little smaller than the Mallard, and with an obvious black rear end. It shows a white wing patch in flight. When seen close up the grey/brown colour is made up of exquisitely fine barring and speckling.

Towards the end of March I made another trip to Slimbridge, Gloucestershire.

Another image of one of 3 Gadwall Ducks seen on the Tack Piece Lagoon.

The Gadwall is a very grey-coloured dabbling duck, a little smaller than the Mallard, and with an obvious black rear end. It shows a white wing patch in flight. When seen close up the grey/brown colour is made up of exquisitely fine barring and speckling.