Mallard

♀, ♂ Mallards, Anas platyrhynchos

Mallards are one of the most familiar of all duck, possibly due to its native distribution throughout North America and its introduction throughout most of the world, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. They are the ancestor of nearly all domestic ducks and inhabit almost any wetland habitat from city ponds and prairie potholes to rice fields and estuaries. While mallards prefer lowland habitats, they will also inhabit low-elevation mountain lakes and streams. Pairs are generally monogamous and form long before spring breeding season, but incubation and rearing of the ducklings falls solely on the female. Their minimal nest requirements are dry ground away from the edge of the water, dead vegetation to form nests, and plenty of pond area for feeding. Mallards eat a variety of aquatic plants and invertebrates including duckweeds, smartweeds, grasses, crustaceans, snails, spiders, and worms, and if in the bottomland hardwoods, acorns. As an important game species, humans are a common predator as well as cats, dogs, weasels, raccoons, opossums, ravens, crows, snakes, turtles, and fish.