The Mallard Duck

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The Mallard Duck
(Anas Platyrynchos)

• By Alex Ottinger

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Description
The male mallard has a green, silky looking
head, a white neck band, a brown chest, a
whitish-grey underside, and brown wings. The
female mallard has a dull brown body with white
spots all over. They both weigh about 3-31/2
pounds each when they are an adult. The average
length is up to 28 inches, while the wingspan is
no more than 40 inches.
Male Mallard
Female Mallard
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Location, Habitat, and Niche
If you want to find a mallard duck during
breeding season, you will probably need to look
everywhere, from Alaska and Greenland to Virginia
and Texas. If you want to spot them in winter,
look around the lower half of the Mississippi
Valley. The mallards habitat is by or in
marshes, lakes, swamps, rivers, streams, or
ponds. The mallard duck is known for feeding
upside-down on algae, plants, and insects.
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Food and Enemies
The mallard eats plenty of food to stay alive.
Those things are seeds, grain, grasses, acorns,
and aquatic invertebrates. The mallard also has
many enemies. Those enemies are large mammals,
like bobcats, wolves, and humans (especially
during duck season!)


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4 More Facts

• Canard colvert is French for mallard duck.
• Pato de collar is Spanish for mallard duck.
• Small ponds attract them for feeding and nesting.
• The mallards nest is hard to see because it is
  usually hidden in tall grass by or in the shore
  of a body of water.

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The End