Mallard - Ross Feldner Almost everyone knows this duck, since it’s one of the most wide-ranging birds in America, truly coast to coast, and is also the most widespread duck in the world! The Mallard was one of the many bird species originally described in the 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae by Carl Linnaeus and its name comes partially from the French “mallart” meaning wild drake. The male Mallard is unmistakable, with a glossy bottle-green head and a white collar, purple-tinged brown breast, grey-brown wings, and a pale grey belly. Mallards are heavier than most other dabbling ducks, and feed on plants and small animals. They are very social birds and prefer to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes and are found in marshes, woody swamps, fields, ponds, rivers, lakes, bays, and city parks, near any kind of fresh water habitat. Their outer feathers are water proof thanks to an oil that comes from a gland near their tail. Mallards molt their flight feathers twice a year and during this time they cannot fly and are at their most vulnerable. | |
