You're a mallard!

You were banded on Centre Island last August by a Ducks Unlimited scientist. Centre Island is just a short ferry ride from downtown Toronto.

Your mom laid you and 11 other greenish-white eggs in May. After you hatched in June, your mother led you and your siblings to the marsh to eat. You are a dabbler duck who feeds by straining invertebrates, seeds and plants from the water with your large bill.

Last fall, after you had all of your new flight feathers, you migrated with your family to a park south of Lake Erie. It was a mild winter so you decided to stay at an open pond there for the winter. Many mallards only fly as far south as they need to each year to find open water and food.

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Banding or marking ducks helps scientists learn more about them and what they need to survive. Protecting wetlands is one way to help ducks.

Fast Facts:

• Dabbling duck (eats at water surface or by tipping up).
• Eats seeds, plants and invertebrates.
• Ancestor of nearly all domestic duck breeds
• May nest 3 or 4 times in the spring if its nest is destroyed by a predator like a skunk or crow.
• The most abundant and widely recognized duck in the world, this “puddle duck” will nest near any tiny body of water – including a backyard swimming pool!