Mallard
Mallard
NL: Wilde eend
D: Stockente
F: Canard colvert
Latin name: Anas platyrhynchos (Linnaeus, 1758)
Bird group: Ducks, geese and swans
Field characteristics: 50-65 cm. Male with shiny dark green head, narrow white collar, purplish brown chest, gray speckled body, mid back dark brown, upper and lower tail coverts black, rest of tail white with two middle black tail feathers curved upwards. Beak greenish yellow. Female brown mottled with black stripes and spots; bill pale orange to yellow-brown. Both sexes with broad blue or purple mirror, front and back bordered with black and white, legs orange.
Appearance: Adapted to many types of habitats and tolerant of human presence or disturbance; usually in calm, shallow water.
Food: Takes many types of food and in different ways. Omnivorous and opportunistic, often in groups. Seeds and green plant parts early in the year, more animal food in summer; plants and seeds in autumn and winter.
Egg: Without markings, basic color grey/blue green/grey green/dirty white/creamy white, sometimes light blue. Shell smooth, not shiny. Shape usually subelliptic, sometimes short or long subelliptic. Size 57 x 41 mm, weight 51 g.
Song/call:
