Mallard

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Adaptable - and noisy - mallards are often found in city parks and waterfronts, as well as in the wild.

Anas platyrynchos

Adaptable - and noisy - mallards are often found in city parks and waterfronts, as well as in the wild. They are among the largest ducks found in North America. Mallards arrive at Canadian nesting grounds in late March or early April from central or southern United States and Mexico. As dabblers (surface feeders), they eat wetland vegetation, seeds, mollusks, crustaceans, insects and larvae. The male is easily identified by its iridescent green head, white collar, greenish-yellow bill and orange legs and feet. Females are clad in brown and buff. Both have distinctive white underwings with blue speculum markings in their rear edges. In late summer or early fall, they will start for their wintering grounds, but won't go any further south than is necessary.

Habitat: Lakes, ponds, rivers, potholes, woodland pools and surrounding uplands

Range: Southwestern Quebec to the Pacific coast

Learn more about North America's most familiar duck...

The mallard is North America’s most abundant and familiar duck. Globally, it is the most widely distributed of the dabbling duck species, with breeding populations in North America, Europe and Asia. People have helped increase the mallard’s range by introducing the species to a number of countries including New Zealand and Australia. Their abundance and wide distribution is credited to their adaptability to varied environments and to human activities.

Within North America, mallards have a wide range that is increasing. Prior to the 1930s, the mallard bred throughout western and central Canada and much of the United States, and was a rare visitor to eastern North America. More recently, with natural expansion and introductions by people, their breeding range has extended eastward and into the boreal forest and the Hudson Bay and James Bay lowlands. Most mallards winter in the United States and northern Mexico, but some stay in Canada and travel only as far as the nearest open water and food.

Mallards are one of the first duck species to return to the breeding grounds in the spring, typically arriving as breeding pairs as soon as open water is available. Soon after, the hen selects a home range and builds a nest that is often close to where she herself last nested or hatched. Some hens return to the same nesting areas year after year. The mallard’s tolerance of human activity allows them to nest in areas that other ducks species wouldn’t even consider. In urban settings, females have been known to nest in a variety of peculiar locations such as backyard flower boxes and shrubs. Backyard swimming pools can make particularly attractive nesting sites for mallards.

Regardless of their location, nests typically contain a clutch of eight to 12 eggs. If a nest is destroyed or abandoned, hens will re-nest, in some cases re-nesting as many as four times. The hen incubates the eggs for about 28 days, and leads her brood to a suitable wetland within a day of the ducklings hatching. The male has long since abandoned his mate and offspring to moult his feathers with other drakes. The female stays with her brood until they fledge, usually at eight weeks of age, and then she too undergoes a moult.

In addition to their success in the wild, mallards have been successfully domesticated for thousands of years. In Europe, this dates back to at least the 12th century, and in Southeast Asia, more than 2000 years. With the exception of the muscovy duck, the mallard is the predecessor of all domestic ducks.

The mallard’s resilience has resulted in a North American population that has been relatively stable; however, their continued success is dependent on the health of our wetlands and associated habitats, which Ducks Unlimited Canada and our partners are working hard to ensure.