Specie's Page                                               Water Fowl - Mallard Ducks

The Mallard:

UK Status: Resident.

Habitat: This duck can be found on almost any body of water, including ponds, lakes, canals, rivers, estuary's and even by the sea shore at times.

Breeding: Mallards come onto dry land to nest, often well away from water. Nests are crude and basic, usually lined with dry grass in a hollow under a bush, or some other cover. Females lay many eggs in March, and sometimes crèche the with another females eggs, taking turns incubating them, therefore lightening the work load.

Often in May, or June they can be seen leading the ducklings to water. Adult birds will often feign injury during this process, and move away from the young ducklings, so as to distract potential predators from their young.

Male Mallards are extremely randy, and will mate with most other duck species, both wild and domestic. Therefore there are many unusually coloured hybrids around. including all white mallards, some of the white mallard are hybrids, some are purebred. Hybrid mallards are known collectively as 'Manky Mallards', poor birds.

Comment: Probably our most common duck, the Mallard is widely distributed throughout the British Isles. Typically males and females are sexually dimorphic, that is to say they differ in appearance. In the breeding season, the male is a  splendid and handsome bird. Females are rather plain but beautiful in their own way. In recent years however Mallard Duck numbers have started to decline, and there is now concern about it's long term survival.

In most places they seem quite comfortable with human a presence around, and often come to people to be fed. Often they they squabble between themselves, and quite aggressively bully smaller water fowl out of the way.