Mallard

 Mallard Duck

Female with ducklings. Note her purple wing bar. 

When you think of ducks I guess the Mallard is the first to come to mind.  You can always find Mallards at Corkaghs lakes and occasionally along the Camac and the streams.  They breed annually though the number of Mallard families seem small when we have adults in good numbers. This may be because their ducklings are tiny and therefore easy prey for Herons and Gulls out on the water and from Rats and Foxes when they are near the shore. 

Mallards don't dive but rather turn upside down to feed from the lakes bottom.  This is called dabbling.

They are not fussy eaters and will take both insects in the water and plants and seeds from the shore.

Male and females look quite different, she is mottled brown while he has wonderfully striking iridescent colouring.  Both male and female have a vibrant purple wing bar.  The purpose of that purple wing bar is to allow the ducks to keep sight of each other in flight where other similar species of ducks might also be flying.

Unlike most other birds, Mallards pair bond in winter and the male will follow the female to guard her from other males until they have mated.  Once mating takes place the males interest in the female finishes and she is left to incubate and raise the hatchlings herself.  She generally keeps her young away from large groups of males as they sometimes attack and bother the ducklings.

While she may lay several eggs its normal for only one or two to survive to adulthood.  They lose their fluffy duckling feathers after the first few weeks.  The young males will take on their adult plumage in late autumn.

Both male and female Mallards undergo a moult at which time they are unable to fly.  The male sheds his colourful plumage and for a while is a mottled brown like the female.  The female also moults but not until her chicks are independent so always later than the males. 

Mallards often live to five or six years. Occasionally you will see a duck in the lakes along side the Mallards, they look similar but the colouring will be different.  These are generally the result of a mating between an escaped domestic duck and a Mallard.  Generally male Mallards outnumber females possibly because females incubating eggs are 'sitting ducks' for predators.  As a result competition for the attention of the ladies is fierce among the males which is why you will often see them behave aggressively towards each other.