- Habitat: Freshwater marshes, lakes, and ponds.
- Weight: 3 to 3.5 pounds.
- Length: Up to 28 inches. Wingspan up to 40 inches.
- Food: Primarily vegetable matter such as seeds, grain, grasses, and
acorns, but aquatic invertebrates are also readily eaten
- The mallard is a medium-sized duck commonly seen throughout Connecticut.
- Mallards are dabbling ducks and feed by tipping forward to submerge
their heads and necks.
- The male or "drake" is recognized by its glossy, green head
and white neck-ring. It has a yellow bill, rusty breast, and white tail.
- The female is mottled brown and has an orange-yellow bill and a whitish
tail.
- Both have orange feet and a blue speculum (patch on their wing) framed
with a white bar on each side.
- The breeding range of the mallard stretches across the northwestern
portion of the Northern Hemisphere from Alaska and Greenland south to
Virginia and northern Texas, dipping slightly into northern Mexico
- In Connecticut, mallard courtship and mating occurs through late
winter, with nest building by the female commencing in April
- Generally referred to as the "greenhead," mallards commonly
interbreed with domestic ducks producing many different variations in
feather color and appearance.
- They are also known to interbreed with wild black ducks and occasionally
pintails.
- The nest is usually well hidden, near water, and constructed in a
depression in the ground.
- The nest is lined with dead reeds and sedges, softened with dark gray
down, and serves as a foundation for the eight to 12 greenish buff-colored
eggs. The down is thickest at the edges of the nest and increases in
quantity as the 26 days of incubation draw to a close.
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