Lone Mallard Duck
by Kathy White
Title
Lone Mallard Duck
Artist
Kathy White
Medium
Photograph - Photography--greeting Cards Or Notes Are Cheaper By The Dozen!
Description
The Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is the most familiar wild duck to many people, one of the most colorful and beautiful, and incidentally, the ancestor of most strains of domesticated ducks (everything except the Muscovy Duck). In many places this species has managed to domesticate itself, relying on handouts in city parks or lakes.
The "Lone Mallard Duck" in this photograph is one of the "almost" domesticated ducks on our city lake. He may not approach you, but he loves the bread or crackers you throw out for him and will waddle as fast as he can to get to them! I love the colors in the mallard. The male�s gleaming green head, gray flanks, orange bill, and black tail-curl arguably make it the most easily identified duck.
They are large ducks with hefty bodies, rounded heads, and wide, flat bills. Females and juveniles are mottled brown with orange-and-brown bills. Both sexes have a white-bordered, purplish blue bold �speculum� patch in the wing. Mallards have also long been hunted for the table, making it also a favorite for duck hunters. They are migrating birds. The mallard favors fresh water at all seasons. This particular waterfowl forages in mostly fresh water by dabbling, submerging head and neck, up-ending, and rarely by diving. Mallards are sometimes called �dabbling ducks" because of the way they feed in the water by tipping forward and grazing on underwater plants. They also forage on land by grazing, plucking seeds, and grubbing for roots.
Uploaded
March 18th, 2017
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Viewed 727 Times - Last Visitor from Cambridge, MA on 04/26/2024 at 1:37 AM
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Comments (1)
William Tasker
A lovely closeup portrait, Kathy! Your beautiful image has been featured by Wild Birds Of The World. L/F
Kathy White replied:
Thank you so much for the feature in Wild Birds of the World FAA group, William Tasker! We appreciate your support, like and fave!