Mallard

How to identify

Field marks

1. Male in the breeding season has a green head and white collar
2. Both sexes have a purple-blue speculum edged with white
3. Female mottled rufous, with pale yellow cheeks, supercilium and throat
4. Male has a yellow-orange bill with a black tip

Male, female and young

Male in the breeding season has a green head; female mainly mottled rufous. Male has a yellow-orange bill with a black tip; female’s bill is usually darker, ranging from black to mottled orange-brown. Adult male changes into non-breeding eclipse plumage at the start of the summer molt, and changes back at its end.

Voice

Female gives a deep “quack”, often in a series of 2–10 calls that fade from loud to soft; male’s call is lower and quieter.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: May · Most records: United States, Canada, United Kingdom

Mallard has been recorded at 4,031 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 143 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, Lincoln Park, ChicagoUnited States40,921 records
2. Prospect ParkUnited States36,030 records
3. Central ParkUnited States34,973 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United StatesCanadaUnited KingdomSpainPortugalChinaNew ZealandGermany

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The mallard or wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout temperate and subtropical North America, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. Belonging to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae, mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

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