Mallard

The Mallard is probably the first duck most people learn, and it is as much at home on a mountain lake as in a city park. The male has a glossy green head, a thin white collar, a reddish-brown chest and a gray body, while the female is mottled brown with an orange bill smudged with black. Both show a blue wing patch with white borders.

Mallards are dabblers. Instead of diving, they tip forward with their tails in the air to reach seeds, roots and stems in shallow water, and they also eat insects, crustaceans, tadpoles and small fish. Ducklings start out eating mostly aquatic insects. Females nest on the ground in thick vegetation, sometimes far from water, and lay a clutch of seven to thirteen eggs in a bowl lined with down.

In early summer the males molt and, until about mid-September, look much like the females. Wild Mallards are the ancestors of most domestic ducks, and tame or feral birds often stay on park and campground ponds year-round.

Around Mt. Hood, look for them on lakes, reservoirs, ponds and calm stretches of river. In Oregon they are common all year, both as residents and as migrants passing through.