This duck is very common and widespread, probably the most familiar duck, famous for such stories as Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. It is found in all kinds of wet areas, including city lakes. Pairs will form long before breeding season (Cornell Lab of Ornithology 2003), but the male often leaves the female towards the end of incubation (Elphick et al. 2001). The bill is specially adapted for straining invertebrates or picking up seeds (Elphick et al. 2001) and it will feed both on land and by dabbling (feeding with just its head and fore-parts under water.

Physical Characteristics:
Length: 23 in (58.4 cm) (Kaufman 2000).

Physical description:
Males have a green head, yellow bill, a white ring around the neck, a reddish-brown chest, and gray underparts. In flight there is a blue wing patch with white outlines. The female is duller, only having the bright blue wing patch. The rest of the body is mottled with brown and buff. The bill of the female is orange with dark blotches and she has a light stripe going through the eye. Hybrids with domestic ducks may have various amounts of white on them and may be larger than the typical wild form.

Voice:
The males has a 'thin, reeb' but is mostly quiet. The female makes noisy quacking (Kaufman 2000).

Breeding habitat:
Breeds in shallow ponds, lakes, marshes, or flooded fields (Ehrlich et al. 1988).

Mating system:
Monogamous. It has complex courtship displays. The male will shake its head and tail, with the chest held above water and the neck stretched out. Sometimes these displays are given by a group of males. If so, they will swim in a circle around the female with arched necks, whistling, and will scoop water into their bills and flick bills up and spit water towards female (Ehrlich et al. 1988).

Nest:
The female makes a scrape on the ground, near water. Sometimes it can be found in a hollow log or the base of a tree, or even in a man-made structure (Ehrlich et al. 1988).

Eggs:
The eggs are unmarked and can be greenish, grayish, buff, or whitish, 2.3? (58 mm). The females will typically lay 7-10 eggs in a clutch and will brood once a year (Ehrlich et al. 1988).

Chick development:
The female incubates the eggs for 28 days to young that are born precocial, finding their own food. The female tends to the young, which fledge in 42-60 days (Ehrlich et al. 1988).

Diet:
Its diet consists mainly of seeds, terrestrial and aquatic plants, and aquatic invertebrates. It feeds by dabbling, which is floating on the water surface with the head submerged, while collecting plants or animals from the substrate (Ehrlich et al. 1988). In urban settings and sometimes along the Little River Road they often feed on land.

Breeding:
Breeds across the northern Hemisphere in Alaska and Canada, south into the United States, excluding many of the southeastern states. In the old world it breeds across northern Africa east to the Middle East ad north into the Arctic. Mallards are generally found throughout Europe during breeding and non-breeding seasons, but are not found in high elevations (Joint Nature Conservation Committee 2006).

Breeding:
Breeds across the northern Hemisphere in Alaska and Canada, south into the United States, excluding many of the southeastern states. In the old world it breeds across northern Africa east to the Middle East and north into the Arctic. Mallards are generally found throughout Europe during breeding and non-breeding seasons, but are not found in high elevations (Joint Nature Conservation Committee 2006).

In Park: An uncommon winter resident, typically seen at Cades Cove (Alsop 2003). It has been sighted in the park as early in the fall as November 14 (Stupka 1963) and as late in the spring as April 4 (park observations).

References:

Alsop, F. J. 1991. Birds of the Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association. Gatlinburg, TN.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2003. Available at All About Birds: Mallard. Accessed on May 26, 2006.

Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder?s Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, Inc. New York.

Elphick, C., J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D.A. Sibley, eds. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Joint Nature Conservation Committee. 2006. Available at Mallard Anas platyrhynchos (non-breeding). Accessed on June 19, 2006.

Kaufman, K. 2000. Birds of North America. Hillstar Editions L. C. New York.

LeGrand, H. E. and Hall, S. P., compilers. 1999. Natural Heritage Program List of the Rare Animals of North Carolina. North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, Division of Parks and Recreation, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Reso

Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the Birds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, TN.

Withers, D. I., K. Condict, and R. McCoy. 2004. A Guide to the Rare Animals of Tennessee. Division of Natural Heritage, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.