The Mallard Song is an ancient tradition of All Souls' College, Oxford . It is sung every year at the Bursar's Dinner in March and the college's Gaudy in November and also sung in a separate special ceremony once a century.
86-561: In the ceremony, Fellows parade around the college with flaming torches, led by a "Lord Mallard" who is carried in a chair, in search of a giant mallard that supposedly flew out of the foundations of the college when it was being built in 1437. The procession is led by an individual carrying a duck — originally dead, now just wooden — tied to the end of a vertical pole. The ceremony was last held in 2001, with Martin Litchfield West acting as Lord Mallard. His predecessor as Lord Mallard
172-600: A regional accent , with urban mallards in London being much louder and more vociferous compared to rural mallards in Cornwall , serving as an adaptation to persistent levels of anthropogenic noise. When incubating a nest, or when offspring are present, females vocalise differently, making a call that sounds like a truncated version of the usual quack. This maternal vocalisation is highly attractive to their young. The repetition and frequency modulation of these quacks form
258-816: A speculum on their wings; males especially tend to have blue speculum feathers. The mallard is 50–65 cm (20–26 in) long, of which the body makes up around two-thirds the length. The wingspan is 81–98 cm (32–39 in) and the bill is 4.4 to 6.1 cm (1.7 to 2.4 in) long. It is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks, weighing 0.7–1.6 kg (1.5–3.5 lb). Mallards live in wetlands , eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes. The female lays 8 to 13 creamy white to greenish-buff spotless eggs , on alternate days. Incubation takes 27 to 28 days and fledging takes 50 to 60 days. The ducklings are precocial and fully capable of swimming as soon as they hatch. The mallard
344-695: A 'late' clutch occurred in November 2011, in which a female successfully hatched and raised a clutch of eleven ducklings at the London Wetland Centre . During the breeding season, both male and female mallards can become aggressive, driving off competitors to themselves or their mate by charging at them. Males tend to fight more than females and attack each other by repeatedly pecking at their rival's chest, ripping out feathers and even skin on rare occasions. Female mallards are also known to carry out 'inciting displays', which encourage other ducks in
430-609: A brood of ducklings. Nesting sites are typically on the ground, hidden in vegetation where the female's speckled plumage serves as effective camouflage , but female mallards have also been known to nest in hollows in trees, boathouses, roof gardens and on balconies, sometimes resulting in hatched offspring having difficulty following their parent to water. Egg clutches number 8–13 creamy white to greenish-buff eggs free of speckles. They measure about 58 mm (2.3 in) in length and 32 mm (1.3 in) in width. The eggs are laid on alternate days, and incubation begins when
516-492: A combination of hot temperatures and reduced water levels place mallards at an increased risk of contracting botulism , as these conditions are ideal for Clostridium botulinum to propagate, with the birds also more likely to come into contact with botulinum toxin produced by the bacteria. Outbreaks of botulism among mallard populations can lead to mass die-offs. The predation-avoidance behaviour of sleeping with one eye open, allowing one brain hemisphere to remain aware while
602-529: A darker crown and eye-stripe. Mallards, like other sexually-dimorphic birds, can sometimes go though spontaneous sex reversal, often caused by damaged or nonfunctioning sex organs, such as the ovaries in mallard hens. This phenomenon can cause female mallards to exhibit male plumage, and vice versa (phenotypic feminisation or masculinisation). Both male and female mallards have distinct iridescent purple-blue speculum feathers edged with white, which are prominent in flight or at rest but temporarily shed during
688-510: A few blood vessels to prevent heat loss, and, as in the Greenland mallard, the bill is smaller than that of birds farther south, illustrating the rule. Due to the variability of the mallard's genetic code, which gives it its vast interbreeding capability, mutations in the genes that decide plumage colour are very common and have resulted in a wide variety of hybrids, such as Brewer's duck (mallard × gadwall, Mareca strepera ). The mallard
774-669: A few metres deep. They are attracted to bodies of water with aquatic vegetation. The mallard is omnivorous and very flexible in its choice of food. Its diet may vary based on several factors, including the stage of the breeding cycle, short-term variations in available food, nutrient availability, and interspecific and intraspecific competition . The majority of the mallard's diet seems to be made up of gastropods , insects (including beetles, flies, lepidopterans , dragonflies , and caddisflies ), crustaceans , other arthropods , worms, feces of other birds, many varieties of seeds and plant matter, and roots and tubers . During
860-404: A glass window. This paper was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in 2003. Mallards are opportunistically targeted by brood parasites , occasionally having eggs laid in their nests by redheads , ruddy ducks , lesser scaup , gadwalls , northern shovellers , northern pintails , cinnamon teal , common goldeneyes , and other mallards. These eggs are generally accepted when they resemble the eggs of
946-458: A long history of both eating wild bird eggs and raising birds for farmed eggs for consumption. Brood parasitism occurs in birds when one species lays its eggs in the nest of another. In some cases, the host's eggs are removed or eaten by the female, or expelled by her chick. Brood parasites include cowbirds , honeyguides , and many Old World cuckoos . Today, the hard shells of bird eggs are unique among animals. However, this trait evolved in
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#17327807376511032-447: A mallard) to huge bald ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ) and golden eagles ( Aquila chrysaetos ), and about a dozen species of mammalian predators, not counting several more avian and mammalian predators who threaten eggs and nestlings. Mallards are also preyed upon by other waterside apex predators , such as grey herons ( Ardea cinerea ), great blue herons ( Ardea herodias ) and black-crowned night herons ( Nycticorax nycticorax ),
1118-541: A river bank, but not always near water. It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and forms large flocks , which are known as "sordes". Mallards usually form pairs (in October and November in the Northern Hemisphere) until the female lays eggs at the start of the nesting season, which is around the beginning of spring. At this time she is left by the male who joins up with other males to await
1204-441: A separate subspecies, the Greenland mallard ( A. p. conboschas ). The mallard is a medium-sized waterfowl species that is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks. It is 50–65 cm (20–26 in) long – of which the body makes up around two-thirds – has a wingspan of 81–98 cm (32–39 in), and weighs 0.7–1.6 kg (1.5–3.5 lb). Among standard measurements,
1290-432: A sequence of 2-10 quacks in a row, starting loud and with the volume gradually decreasing. Male mallards make a sound phonetically similar to that of the female, a typical quack , but it is deeper and quieter compared to that of the female. Research conducted by Middlesex University on two English mallard populations found that the vocalisations of the mallard varies depending on their environment and have something akin to
1376-529: A severe threat to indigenous waterfowl's genetic integrity. Mallards and their hybrids compete with indigenous birds for resources, including nest sites, roosting sites, and food. Availability of mallards, mallard ducklings, and fertilised mallard eggs for public sale and private ownership, either as poultry or as pets, is currently legal in the United States, except for the state of Florida , which has currently banned domestic ownership of mallards. This
1462-777: A strong flavour. They were first domesticated in Southeast Asia at least 4,000 years ago, during the Neolithic Age , and were also farmed by the Romans in Europe, and the Malays in Asia . As the domestic duck and the mallard are the same species as each other, it is common for mallards to mate with domestic ducks and produce hybrid offspring that are fully fertile. Because of this, mallards have been found to be contaminated with
1548-418: A very small and fluctuating population. Mallards sometimes arrive on its island home during migration, and can be expected to occasionally have remained and hybridised with Laysan ducks as long as these species have existed. However, these hybrids are less well adapted to the peculiar ecological conditions of Laysan Island than the local ducks, and thus have lower fitness . Laysan ducks were found throughout
1634-518: A white square on the wings in flight, and is a smaller bird. More similar to the female mallard in North America are the American black duck ( A. rubripes ), which is notably darker-hued in both sexes than the mallard, and the mottled duck ( A. fulvigula ), which is somewhat darker than the female mallard, and with slightly different bare-part colouration and no white edge on
1720-605: Is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas , Eurasia , and North Africa . It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae . Males (drakes) have green heads, while the females (hens) have mainly brown-speckled plumage . Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black or iridescent purple or blue feathers called
1806-517: Is a lack of that mineral. In species such as the common guillemot , which nest in large groups, each female's eggs have very different markings, making it easier for females to identify their own eggs on the crowded cliff ledges on which they breed. Bird eggshells are diverse. For example: Tiny pores in a bird eggshell allow the embryo to breathe. The domestic hen 's egg has around 7500 pores. The shape of eggs varies considerably across bird species, ranging from near-spherical (such as those of
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#17327807376511892-536: Is a product of flight adaptations and not the outcome of nesting conditions or a bird's life history. A strong correlation was found between egg shape and flight ability on broad taxonomic scales, such that birds engaging in high powered flights usually maximize egg size by having elliptical shaped eggs while maintaining a streamlined body plan. Selection acting during incubation, such as breeding site and incubation posture, are also thought to influence egg-shape variation across birds. Egg size tends to be proportional to
1978-676: Is considered to be a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Unlike many waterfowl, mallards are considered an invasive species in some regions. It is a very adaptable species, being able to live and even thrive in urban areas which may have supported more localised, sensitive species of waterfowl before development. The non-migratory mallard interbreeds with indigenous wild ducks of closely related species through genetic pollution by producing fertile offspring. Complete hybridisation of various species of wild duck gene pools could result in
2064-478: Is currently introgressing into the mallard populations of the Primorsky Krai , possibly due to habitat changes from global warming . The Mariana mallard was a resident allopatric population – in most respects a good species – apparently initially derived from mallard-Pacific black duck hybrids; it became extinct in the late 20th century. The Laysan duck is an insular relative of the mallard, with
2150-453: Is important to quantify this pigmentation For the same reason, later eggs in a clutch are more spotted than early ones, as the female's store of calcium is depleted. Birds which build in trees generally have blue or greenish eggs, either spotted or unspotted, while birds that build in bushes or near or on the ground are likely to lay speckled eggs. The color of individual eggs is also genetically influenced, and appears to be inherited through
2236-420: Is more a consequence of local ducks declining than of mallards spreading; allopatric speciation and isolating behaviour have produced today's diversity of mallard-like ducks despite the fact that, in most, if not all, of these populations, hybridisation must have occurred to some extent. Mallards are causing severe "genetic pollution" to South Africa's biodiversity by breeding with endemic ducks even though
2322-421: Is necessary, and some parasitic cuckoos , which lay eggs that often closely match the passerine host's egg. To varying degrees of success, host passerine species have combined speckles, blotches and other egg markings with visual pattern-recognition abilities to help them reject cuckoos' counterfeit eggs. Most other passerines, in contrast, lay colored eggs, even if there is no need of cryptic colors. However,
2408-635: Is not warranted a vulnerable rating. Also, the population size of the mallard is very large. Unlike many waterfowl, mallards have benefited from human alterations to the world – so much so that they are now considered an invasive species in some regions. They are a common sight in urban parks, lakes, ponds, and other human-made water features in the regions they inhabit, and are often tolerated or encouraged in human habitat due to their placid nature towards humans and their beautiful and iridescent colours. While most are not domesticated, mallards are so successful at coexisting in human regions that
2494-524: Is played by Professor Rincewind, the Chair of Cruel and Unusual Geography. A folksong ( Roud 1517) found in southern England is an accumulative song about the body of the mallard. Mallard A. p. platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 A. p. domesticus Linnaeus, 1758 A. p. conboschas C. L. Brehm , 1831 (disputed) [REDACTED] The mallard ( / ˈ m æ l ɑːr d , ˈ m æ l ər d / ) or wild duck ( Anas platyrhynchos )
2580-526: Is sometimes still used this way. It was derived from the Old French malart or mallart for "wild drake" although its true derivation is unclear. It may be related to, or at least influenced by, an Old High German masculine proper name Madelhart , clues lying in the alternative English forms "maudelard" and "mawdelard". Masle (male) has also been proposed as an influence. Mallards frequently interbreed with their closest relatives in
2666-630: Is somewhat shallow where the birds can be found foraging for food. Hunting mallards might cause the population to decline in some places, at some times, and with some populations. In certain countries, the mallard may be legally shot but is protected under national acts and policies. For example, in the United Kingdom, the mallard is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 , which restricts certain hunting methods or taking or killing mallards. Bird egg Bird eggs are laid by
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2752-518: Is the white of the calcium carbonate from which the shells are made, but some birds, mainly passerines , produce colored eggs. The pigments biliverdin and its zinc chelate give a green or blue ground color, and protoporphyrin produces reds and browns as a ground color or as spotting. Non-passerines typically have white eggs, except in some ground-nesting groups, such as the Charadriiformes , sandgrouse and nightjars , where camouflage
2838-600: Is to prevent hybridisation with the native mottled duck . The mallard is considered an invasive species in Australia and New Zealand, where it competes with the Pacific black duck (known as the grey duck locally in New Zealand) which was over-hunted in the past. There, and elsewhere, mallards are spreading with increasing urbanisation and hybridising with local relatives. The eastern or Chinese spot-billed duck
2924-535: Is usually within a small range of variation. Some birds respond to the accidental loss of eggs by laying a replacement egg. Others will stop laying based on the apparent size of the clutch. According to whether they respond to addition, removal, or both addition and removal of eggs, birds are classified as determinate layers (number of eggs laid is predetermined and do not respond to change) or as indeterminate layers. In general, birds with small clutch size tended to be indeterminate. Many animals feed on eggs. For example,
3010-712: Is widely distributed across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres; in North America its range extends from southern and central Alaska to Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands , across the Palearctic , from Iceland and southern Greenland and parts of Morocco ( North Africa ) in the west, Scandinavia and Britain to the north, and to Siberia, Japan, and South Korea. Also in the east, it ranges to south-eastern and south-western Australia and New Zealand in
3096-586: The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds – an agreement to protect the local waterfowl populations – applies to the mallard as well as other ducks. The hybrids of mallards and the yellow-billed duck are fertile, capable of producing hybrid offspring. If this continues, only hybrids occur and in the long term result in the extinction of various indigenous waterfowl. The mallard can crossbreed with 63 other species, posing
3182-785: The D-loop sequence suggest that mallards may have evolved in the general area of Siberia . Mallard bones rather abruptly appear in food remains of ancient humans and other deposits of fossil bones in Europe , without a good candidate for a local predecessor species . The large Ice Age palaeosubspecies that made up at least the European and West Asian populations during the Pleistocene has been named Anas platyrhynchos palaeoboschas . Mallards are differentiated in their mitochondrial DNA between North American and Eurasian populations, but
3268-584: The European herring gull ( Larus argentatus ), the wels catfish ( Silurus glanis ), and the northern pike ( Esox lucius ). Crows ( Corvus spp. ) are also known to kill ducklings and adults on occasion. Also, mallards may be attacked by larger anseriformes such as swans ( Cygnus spp. ) and geese during the breeding season, and are frequently driven off by these birds over territorial disputes. Mute swans ( Cygnus olor ) have been known to attack or even kill mallards if they feel that
3354-841: The Old World mallards and the New World mallard demonstrates the extent to which the genome is shared among them such that birds like the Chinese spot-billed duck are highly similar to the Old World mallard, and birds such as the Hawaiian duck are highly similar to the New World mallard. The size of the mallard varies clinally ; for example, birds from Greenland , though larger, have smaller bills, paler plumage, and stockier bodies than birds further south and are sometimes classified as
3440-453: The females and range in quantity from one (as in condors ) to up to seventeen (the grey partridge ). Clutch size may vary latitudinally within a species. Some birds lay eggs even when the eggs have not been fertilized; it is not uncommon for pet owners to find their lone bird nesting on a clutch of infertile eggs, which are sometimes called wind-eggs. All bird eggs contain the following components: The default color of vertebrate eggs
3526-775: The genus Anas , such as the American black duck , and also with species more distantly related, such as the northern pintail , leading to various hybrids that may be fully fertile. The mallard has hybridised with more than 40 species in the wild, and an additional 20 species in captivity, though fertile hybrids typically have two Anas parents. Mallards and their domestic conspecifics are fully interfertile; many wild mallard populations in North America contain significant amounts of domestic mallard DNA. Genetic analysis has shown that certain mallards appear to be closer to their Indo-Pacific relatives, while others are related to their American relatives. Mitochondrial DNA data for
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3612-422: The little bee-eater ) to highly pyriform or conical (such as those of the common murre ) with the familiar shape of the chicken egg lying in between. Early scientific investigators of egg shape suggested that the oval shape of eggs was caused by the egg being forced through the oviduct by peristalsis . In this often-repeated but incorrect theory of egg shape formation, the contraction and relaxation of
3698-402: The wing chord is 25.7 to 30.6 cm (10.1 to 12.0 in), the bill is 4.4 to 6.1 cm (1.7 to 2.4 in), and the tarsus is 4.1 to 4.8 cm (1.6 to 1.9 in). The breeding male mallard is unmistakable, with a glossy bottle-green head and a white collar that demarcates the head and neck from the purple-tinged brown breast, grey-brown wings, and a pale grey belly. The rear of
3784-402: The Greenland mallard which is larger than the mallards further south. Allen's Rule says that appendages like ears tend to be smaller in polar forms to minimise heat loss, and larger in tropical and desert equivalents to facilitate heat diffusion, and that the polar taxa are stockier overall. Examples of this rule in birds are rare as they lack external ears, but the bill of ducks is supplied with
3870-515: The Hawaiian archipelago before 400 AD, after which they suffered a rapid decline during the Polynesian colonisation. Now, their range includes only Laysan Island. It is one of the successfully translocated birds, after having become nearly extinct in the early 20th century. Mallards have often been ubiquitous in their regions among the ponds, rivers, and streams of human parks, farms, and other human-made waterways – even to
3956-642: The Megapode", practiced once a century by the wizards of the Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork. Similar to the Oxonian ceremony, one member of staff is elected to perform a special role during the ceremony, which, however, is not to preside over the proceedings but to personify the mythical bird megapode itself and be chased by the other wizards. In the ceremony described in the novel, the megapode
4042-526: The Southern hemisphere. It is strongly migratory in the northern parts of its breeding range, and winters farther south. For example, in North America, it winters south to the southern United States and northern Mexico , but also regularly strays into Central America and the Caribbean between September and May. A drake later named "Trevor" attracted media attention in 2018 when it turned up on
4128-460: The annual summer moult. Upon hatching, the plumage of the duckling is yellow on the underside and face (with streaks by the eyes) and black on the back (with some yellow spots) all the way to the top and back of the head. Its legs and bill are also black. As it nears a month in age, the duckling's plumage starts becoming drab, looking more like the female, though more streaked, and its legs lose their dark grey colouring. Two months after hatching,
4214-535: The auditory basis for species identification in offspring, a process known as acoustic conspecific identification. In addition, females hiss if the nest or offspring are threatened or interfered with. When taking off, the wings of a mallard produce a characteristic faint whistling noise. The mallard is a rare example of both Allen's Rule and Bergmann's Rule in birds. Bergmann's Rule, which states that polar forms tend to be larger than related ones from warmer climates, has numerous examples in birds, as in case of
4300-408: The beginning and the end of the summer moulting period. The adulthood age for mallards is fourteen months, and the average life expectancy is three years, but they can live to twenty. Several species of duck have brown-plumaged females that can be confused with the female mallard. The female gadwall ( Mareca strepera ) has an orange-lined bill, white belly, black and white speculum that is seen as
4386-465: The big end tipped upward. The big end contains the air sac and its shell is pierced by a higher density of pores than the more pointed end. Tipping the big end upwards improves oxygen flow to the large head, with the physiologically demanding eyes and brain, that develops in the big end while the tail develops at the more pointed end. In a 2017 publication in the journal Science , mathematical modeling of 50,000 bird eggs data showed that bird egg shape
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#17327807376514472-422: The bird oviduct, see here ). However, this theory has been refuted by studies of egg shell formation in a number of bird species using techniques such as X-ray photography which have demonstrated that egg shape is determined in the oviduct isthmus (before shell calcification) with the pointed end caudal (furthest down the oviduct). These observations cannot be explained by peristalsis. It has been proposed that
4558-400: The breeding season, male birds were recorded to have eaten 37.6% animal matter and 62.4% plant matter, most notably the grass Echinochloa crus-galli , and nonlaying females ate 37.0% animal matter and 63.0% plant matter, while laying females ate 71.9% animal matter and only 28.1% plant matter. Plants generally make up the larger part of a bird's diet, especially during autumn migration and in
4644-455: The centre tail feather (drake feather) is curled, but in females, the centre tail feather is straight. During the final period of maturity leading up to adulthood (6–10 months of age), the plumage of female juveniles remains the same while the plumage of male juveniles gradually changes to its characteristic colours. This change in plumage also applies to adult mallard males when they transition in and out of their non-breeding eclipse plumage at
4730-841: The clutch is almost complete. Incubation takes 27–28 days and fledging takes 50–60 days. The ducklings are precocial and fully capable of swimming as soon as they hatch. However, filial imprinting compels them to instinctively stay near the mother, not only for warmth and protection but also to learn about and remember their habitat as well as how and where to forage for food. Though adoptions are known to occur, female mallards typically do not tolerate stray ducklings near their broods, and will violently attack and drive away any unfamiliar young, sometimes going as far as to kill them. When ducklings mature into flight-capable juveniles, they learn about and remember their traditional migratory routes (unless they are born and raised in captivity). In New Zealand, where mallards are naturalised ,
4816-580: The delight of traditionalists, it was restored in the 2001 ceremony. The last two lines are an invitation to the singers to retire to a convenient watering-hole. They could be paraphrased as saying "in much the same way as the Mallard dives into a pond, let us dive into a drinking bowl." The centenary ceremony is parodied in Sir Terry Pratchett's novel Unseen Academicals as "the Chasing of
4902-480: The ducks pose a threat to their offspring. Common loons ( Gavia inmer ) are similarly territorial and aggressive towards other birds in such disputes, and will frequently drive mallards away from their territory. However, in 2019, a pair of common loons in Wisconsin were observed raising a mallard duckling for several weeks, having seemingly adopted the bird after it had been abandoned by its parents. In summer,
4988-525: The egg acquires its shape (with the pointed egg caudal) as it is forced through the narrow isthmus, but this assertion has not been thoroughly verified. Cliff-nesting birds often have highly conical eggs. They are less likely to roll off, tending instead to roll around in a tight circle; this trait is likely to have arisen due to evolution via natural selection. In contrast, many hole-nesting birds have nearly spherical eggs. The shape has biological significance. A pointed egg will tend to sit on its side, with
5074-436: The extinction of many indigenous waterfowl. The mallard itself is the ancestor of most domestic ducks, and its naturally evolved wild gene pool gets genetically polluted in turn by the domestic and feral populations. Over time, a continuum of hybrids ranging between almost typical examples of either species develop; the speciation process is beginning to reverse itself. This has created conservation concerns for relatives of
5160-463: The extinction of many indigenous waterfowl. This species is the main ancestor of most breeds of domestic duck , and its naturally evolved wild gene pool has been genetically polluted by the domestic and feral mallard populations. The mallard was one of the many bird species originally described in the 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae by Carl Linnaeus . He gave it two binomial names : Anas platyrhynchos and Anas boschas . The latter
5246-423: The female. Lebret (1961) calls this behaviour "Attempted Rape Flight", and Stanley Cramp and K.E.L. Simmons (1977) speak of "rape-intent flights". Male mallards also occasionally chase other male ducks of a different species, and even each other, in the same way. In one documented case of "homosexual necrophilia", a male mallard copulated with another male he was chasing after the chased male died upon flying into
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#17327807376515332-414: The fledgling period has ended, and the duckling is now a juvenile. The duckling is able to fly 50–60 days after hatching. Its bill soon loses its dark grey colouring, and its sex can finally be distinguished visually by three factors: 1) the bill is yellow in males, but black and orange in females; 2) the breast feathers are reddish-brown in males, but brown in females; and 3) in males,
5418-408: The flock to begin fighting. It is possible that this behaviour allows the female to evaluate the strength of potential partners. The drakes that end up being left out after the others have paired off with mating partners sometimes target an isolated female duck, even one of a different species, and proceed to chase and peck at her until she weakens, at which point the males take turns copulating with
5504-402: The genes of the domestic duck. While the keeping of domestic breeds is more popular, pure-bred mallards are sometimes kept for eggs and meat, although they may require wing clipping to restrict flying. Mallards are one of the most common species shot in waterfowl hunting due to their large population size. The ideal location for hunting mallards is considered to be where the water level
5590-420: The host mallard, but the hen may attempt to eject them or even abandon the nest if parasitism occurs during egg laying. In addition to human hunting, mallards of all ages (but especially young ones) and in all locations must contend with a wide diversity of predators including raptors and owls , mustelids , corvids , snakes , raccoons , opossums , skunks , turtles , large fish , felids , and canids ,
5676-507: The island of Niue , an atypical location for mallards. The mallard inhabits a wide range of habitats and climates, from the Arctic tundra to subtropical regions. It is found in both fresh- and salt-water wetlands, including parks, small ponds, rivers, lakes and estuaries , as well as shallow inlets and open sea within sight of the coastline. Water depths of less than 0.9 metres (3.0 ft) are preferred, with birds avoiding areas more than
5762-472: The last two including domestic cats and dogs. The most prolific natural predators of adult mallards are red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes ; which most often pick off brooding females) and the faster or larger birds of prey, (e.g. peregrine falcons , Aquila or Haliaeetus eagles). In North America, adult mallards face no fewer than 15 species of birds of prey, from northern harriers ( Circus hudsonius ) and short-eared owls ( Asio flammeus ) (both smaller than
5848-734: The main conservation risk they pose comes from the loss of genetic diversity among a region's traditional ducks once humans and mallards colonise an area. Mallards are very adaptable, being able to live and even thrive in urban areas which may have supported more localised, sensitive species of waterfowl before development. The release of feral mallards in areas where they are not native sometimes creates problems through interbreeding with indigenous waterfowl . These non-migratory mallards interbreed with indigenous wild ducks from local populations of closely related species through genetic pollution by producing fertile offspring. Complete hybridisation of various species of wild duck gene pools could result in
5934-447: The male is black, with white-bordered dark tail feathers. The bill of the male is a yellowish-orange tipped with black, with that of the female generally darker and ranging from black to mottled orange and brown. The female mallard is predominantly mottled, with each individual feather showing sharp contrast from buff to very dark brown, a coloration shared by most female dabbling ducks, and has buff cheeks, eyebrow, throat, and neck, with
6020-494: The mallard species. Ecological changes and hunting have also led to a decline of local species; for example, the New Zealand grey duck population declined drastically due to overhunting in the mid-20th century. Hybrid offspring of Hawaiian ducks seem to be less well adapted to native habitat, and using them in re-introduction projects apparently reduces success. In summary, the problems of mallards "hybridising away" relatives
6106-549: The mallard, such as the Hawaiian duck , the New Zealand grey duck ( A. s. superciliosa) subspecies of the Pacific black duck , the American black duck, the mottled duck , Meller's duck , the yellow-billed duck , and the Mexican duck , in the latter case even leading to a dispute as to whether these birds should be considered a species (and thus entitled to more conservation research and funding) or included in
6192-408: The mother only, suggesting the gene responsible for pigmentation is on the female-specific W chromosome (female birds are WZ, males are ZZ). Color was once thought to be applied to the shell immediately before laying, but this research shows coloration is an integral part of the development of the shell, with the same protein responsible for depositing calcium carbonate, or protoporphyrins when there
6278-478: The moulting period, which begins in June (in the Northern Hemisphere). During the brief time before this, however, the males are still sexually potent and some of them either remain on standby to sire replacement clutches (for female mallards that have lost or abandoned their previous clutch) or forcibly mate with females that appear to be isolated or unattached regardless of their species and whether or not they have
6364-401: The muscles which push the egg down the oviduct cause the spherical egg membrane to distort slightly into an ovoid shape, with the blunt end caudal (i.e. furthest down the oviduct and closest to the cloaca ). The calcification of the egg in the shell gland/ uterus then fixes it in this shape, and the egg is laid with the blunt end appearing first (for a diagram showing the different sections of
6450-444: The nesting season has been found to be longer, eggs and clutches are larger and nest survival is generally greater compared with mallards in their native range. In cases where a nest or brood fails, some mallards may mate for a second time in an attempt to raise a second clutch, typically around early-to-mid summer. In addition, mallards may occasionally breed during the autumn in cases of unseasonably warm weather; one such instance of
6536-485: The nuclear genome displays a notable lack of genetic structure. Haplotypes typical of American mallard relatives and eastern spot-billed ducks can be found in mallards around the Bering Sea . The Aleutian Islands hold a population of mallards that appear to be evolving towards becoming a subspecies , as gene flow with other populations is very limited. Also, the paucity of morphological differences between
6622-510: The other half sleeps, was first demonstrated in mallards, although it is believed to be widespread among birds in general. Since 1998, the mallard has been rated as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species . This is because it has a large range–more than 20,000,000 km (7,700,000 mi ) and because its population is increasing, rather than declining by 30% over ten years or three generations and thus
6708-444: The photographic markings on passerine eggs have been suggested to reduce brittleness by acting as a solid state lubricant. If insufficient calcium is available in the local soil, the egg shell may be thin, especially in a circle around the broad end. Protoporphyrin speckling compensates for this, and increases inversely to the amount of calcium in the soil. To understand the functional significance of eggshell spotting (or maculation) it
6794-525: The point of visiting water features in human courtyards . Mallards have had a long relationship with humans. Almost all domestic duck breeds derive from the mallard, with the exception of a few Muscovy breeds, and are listed under the trinomial name A. p. domesticus . Mallards are generally monogamous while domestic ducks are mostly polygamous . Domestic ducks have no territorial behaviour and are less aggressive than mallards. Domestic ducks are mostly kept for meat; their eggs are also eaten, and have
6880-455: The principal predators of the black oystercatcher 's eggs include raccoons , skunks , mink , river and sea otters , gulls , crows and foxes . The stoat ( Mustela erminea ) and long-tailed weasel ( Neogale frenata ) steal ducks' eggs. Ostrich eggs are vulnerable to many predators ranging from mongooses and Egyptian vultures , to hyenas . Snakes of the genera Dasypeltis and Elachistodon specialize in eating eggs. Humans have
6966-420: The size of the adult bird, from the half gram egg of the bee hummingbird to the 1.5 kg egg of the ostrich . Kiwis have disproportionately large eggs, up to 20% of the female's body weight. This evolutionary trait results in kiwi chicks that can emerge from the nest days after hatching, ready to start foraging for food. The number of eggs laid in a single brood is referred to as the clutch. Clutch size
7052-406: The speculum. In captivity, domestic ducks come in wild-type plumages, white, and other colours. Most of these colour variants are also known in domestic mallards not bred as livestock, but kept as pets, aviary birds, etc., where they are rare but increasing in availability. A noisy species, the female has the deep quack stereotypically associated with ducks. The female will often call with
7138-523: The time the song was created. The reference to "Jove turn'd a Swan" refers to the mythical incident in which the Roman god Jupiter transformed himself into a swan to seduce Queen Leda . Not surprisingly, the Victorians disapproved of the reference to the mallard's "swapping tool of generation", mightier than any other in "ye wingged Nation" (of birds). They dropped this verse from the song, but to
7224-487: The winter. The mallard usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing; there are reports of it eating frogs , other amphibians , and fish , including carcasses . However, in 2017 a flock of mallards in Romania were observed hunting small migratory birds, including grey wagtails and black redstarts , the first documented occasion they had been seen attacking and consuming large vertebrates. It usually nests on
7310-442: Was Cosmo Lang , who presided over the centenary ceremony in 1901. The words of the song are as follows: The word "swapping", repeatedly used in the chorus, is a now-obsolete use from Middle English meaning "striking" (as in "what a remarkably big duck that is!"). The identity of King Edward in the song is not known; it could refer to any of the five English monarchs of that name (three numbered, and two earlier monarchs) up to
7396-523: Was generally preferred until 1906 when Einar Lönnberg established that A. platyrhynchos had priority, as it appeared on an earlier page in the text. The scientific name comes from Latin Anas , "duck" and Ancient Greek πλατυρυγχος, platyrhynchus , "broad-billed" (from πλατύς, platys , "broad" and ρυγχός, rhunkhos , "bill"). The genome of Anas platyrhynchos was sequenced in 2013. The name mallard originally referred to any wild drake, and it
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