Mallard

by Sarah Loft

Title

Mallard

Artist

Sarah Loft

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

I photographed this duck on a small island in the Rhine River in Germany near Wiesbaden.

Per Wikipedia: The mallard or wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands and South Africa This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae.

The male birds (drakes) have a glossy green head and are grey on wings and belly, while the females have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both genders have an area of white-bordered black speculum feathers which commonly also include irridescent blue feathers especially among males. Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes. This species is the ancestor of most breeds of domestic ducks.

The mallard is a medium-sized waterfowl species although 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 0.72 - 1.58 kg (1.6 - 3.5 lb). Among standard measurements, 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 white collar which demarcates the head from the purple-tinged brown breast, grey brown wings, and a pale grey belly. The rear of the male is black, with the dark tail having white borders. The bill of the male is a yellowish orange tipped with black while that of the female is generally darker ranging from black to mottled orange. 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 a darker crown and eye-stripe.

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Featured in the Pleasing the Eye group, July 2015.

Uploaded

July 2nd, 2015

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