The State of the UK’s Birds 2011 report provides the results of bird surveys, monitoring schemes and projects from across the UK. The latest wintering population figures on wetland birds shows that several species have exceeded previous maxima, while others have dramatically fallen to an all-time low. Overall, numbers of wintering waterbirds have been in gradual decline since the late 1990s. One of the greatest losses recorded in the report was for the Mallard.

The Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos - is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. The Mallard is the ancestor of most domestic ducks, and can interbreed with other species of genus Anas. Hybrids from Mallards and Yellow-billed duck in South Africa are fertile a major cause of concern.

Description

The breeding male is unmistakable, with a bright bottle-green head, black rear end and a yellowish orange bill tipped with black. It has a white collar which demarcates the head from the purple-tinged brown breast, grey brown wings, and a pale grey belly. The dark tail has white borders. The female Mallard is a mottled light brown.

Call

The male has a nasal call, and a high-pitched whistle, while the female has a deeper quack.

Food

The Mallard is omnivorous and very flexible in its food choice. Its diet may vary based on several factors, including the stage of the breeding cycle, short term variations in available food. Food mainly made up of insects, seeds and plant matter. It usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing.

Breeding

Mallards usually form pairs, only until the female lays eggs at the start of nesting season which is around the beginning of spring. The male will then join up with other males to await the moulting period. The clutch is 8 to 12 eggs, which are incubated for between 27 to 28 days. The young fledge between 50 to 60 days.

Conservation Status – Least Concern – However the report shows dramatic declies in numbers in the UK.

Birdwatching

The Mallard is widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere, North America from southern and central Alaska to Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands, and across Eurasia, from Iceland and southern Greenland and parts of Morocco in the west, Scandinavia to the north, and to Siberia, Japan, and China in the east.