Mallard - a large duck
.Males weigh 1.0-1.3 kg in spring, up to 1.7 kg in autumn. The male has a black head with a greenish sheen, a chestnut-colored breast, and a black tail. Distinctive features include a yellow or yellow-green bill, orange legs, often brownish-orange, and a blue speculum; the female has a pinkish bill with a dark center. The male in summer plumage resembles the female, but has a yellow-green bill. In a flying bird, white stripes on the wings are clearly visible. Takeoff and flight are noisy. The voice is a soft quack, similar to that of a domestic duck. In spring, drakes (males) produce a high but hoarse whistle.
It inhabits a wide variety of water bodies with fresh, brackish, or saltwater and shallow areas, but avoids lakes with completely bare shores, streams, mountain rivers, and other fast-flowing waters, as well as oligotrophic (containing little organic matter) bodies of water. During the nesting period, it prefers inland freshwater bodies with still water and shores overgrown with reeds, bulrush, or other tall grasses.
It can be found alone, in pairs, or in flocks on or near water. Its flight is fast and very noisy. It takes off from the water relatively easily.
It only dives when injured and can swim underwater for dozens of meters. On land, it waddles but can run quickly when injured.
It is very adaptable in its choice of food and easily adjusts to local conditions. It feeds in shallow waters by filtering small aquatic animals and plant food through the lamellae of its bill.
Its diet consists of plant food (duckweed, hornwort, etc.), small invertebrates, insects, mollusks, small fish, crustaceans, tadpoles, and even frogs.
In summer, adult mallards molt. Males begin molting earlier—when females are fully on their eggs. Females molt when their broods take to the wing—in August. The molting process lasts about two months, during which the bird loses the ability to fly for 20-25 days due to simultaneous loss of flight feathers.
The widely held belief about the polygamy of ducks, including mallards, is not true. Ducks form stable pairs during wintering, although this does not lead to the disbandment of flocks. Pairs sometimes remain together for several years. Spring fights among males are caused by the presence of unpaired birds or by a male defending its nesting territory. Drakes pursue foreign females in spring, but this does not lead to the disbandment of pairs.
Mallards nest around overgrown lakes and backwaters. Males do not participate in nest building. The female builds the nest in a concealed location, not far from water, in grass under bushes or dead wood. Sometimes, she makes nests in trees, in old nests of crows and other large birds, and in tree cavities with wide open entrances. In wet areas, the duck gathers a large pile of stems and leaves for the nest. She lines the nest with down, which she then uses to cover the eggs when she leaves the nest. The clutch consists of 7-12 eggs that are white with a slight olive tint, which later disappears. The female lays one egg daily, usually in the evening. The incubation period is 26 days. During the first period, the female leaves the nest easily, usually in the morning and evening, to feed. By the end of incubation, she sits very tightly. The brood leaves the nest 12-16 hours after the first chick hatches. By this time, the chicks can move quickly on land, swim, dive, and forage. Chicks dive very well, while adult ducks rarely and reluctantly do so. At five weeks of age, females begin to quack; until then, all chicks only peep. At fifty days old, the chicks start to gradually fly.
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