Archive for April 10th, 2009

A few  weeks ago I saw a pair of Mallard ducks in the creek by our house. There’s a long thin park there with mowed grass, and some rough brush down by the water’s edge, but the creek itself is not very deep or wide so it surprised me to see them several days in a row, swimming along in a pair, in clear water no more than a foot deep. They looked completely placid and happy in this unusual urban environment.  I couldn’t help but think that they were there because they didn’t want to be part of the free for all over at Foster Park at the corner of South Drive and Trail Lake, where a large group of ducks and geese is regularly swimming, waiting for the bread that visitors routinely bring. I didn’t blame these two for wanting to be apart, and I thought it was a nice thing, to have ducks in the neighborhood.

Mallard Duck Details

Description: With its iridenscent green head, black tail and purple patch in the wing feathers, male Mallards are easy to identify. The female is less striking, being a simple mottled brown.

Size: About 20-26 inches long, one of the larger duck varieties.

Range: The Mallard’s range covers just about all of North America. The bird winters in the southwestern United States and Mexico, can be found all year in the middle regions of the country, and summers in Canada, which is its breeding ground.

Diet: “Insects and larvae, aquatic invertebrates, seeds, acorns, aquatic vegetation, and grain” according to the Mallard’s entry on All About Birds.

Habitat: All wetlands.

Population status: The most widespread and abundant duck in North America, it is heavily hunted and numbers are carefully tracked by conservationists.

Listen: Mallard Duck call.

You can also Help Track Mallard Populations by entering birdwatching data on the Celebrate Urban Birds Website.