Mallard: The wild duck that dabbles tail-up

The mallard is the commonest wild duck in our park ponds and the wild ancestor of nearly every farm duck. It has handsome feathers (the male especially) and a distinctive feeding pose — tail up, head underwater. Let's meet it.

Its body and its voice

The male mallard has a glossy green head and a neat white ring around the neck, while the female is plainly brown and speckled, which hides her and her nest in the grass. Their voices are surprisingly different: the female calls loudly — nearly every park "quack" comes from a mother mallard — while the male's voice is a whisper.

How it feeds

The mallard is a dabbling expert: it tips its head underwater and its rear and tail up, the body like an upside-down post, so it can reach waterweed and insects below with its bill. This method is called "dabbling", and it is quite different from diving ducks, which swim underwater.

The ducklings' first lesson

The mallard mother builds her nest a little way from the water and up high. The ducklings hatch covered in down and ready to run on day one. But how do they get to the water? They bravely tumble down, one after another, then march after their mother to the pond. That day is their bravest first lesson in life.

A note for grown-ups

You could look in the park with a child: which is the female and which the male? Then count the ducklings together. Then explain that nearly every farm duck descends from the mallard — the ancestor of the ducks on farms is right there in the park pond.