Female wild mallard. The appearance and structure of the body of a duck
Refers to the common subgenus mallard Anas, in the genus River ducks, which is a monophyletic (in a broad sense, not holophyletic) group.
Description
Appearance
Quite large, stocky river duck with a large head and short tail. Length 51-62 cm, wingspan 80-100 cm, male wing 27.5-30.6 cm, female wing 25.2-28.5 cm, weight 0.75-1.5 kg. The beak is flat, wide with well-developed ridges of horny plates along the edges. The color of the beak is different in males and females. In drakes in the breeding plumage, it is buffy-olive at the base and more buffy or yellow at the end, has a rather wide black marigold. In adult ducks, the beak color most often varies from olive to dark gray with orange edges, but it can be completely orange. Several small black specks are always present at the base of the female's beak.
The mallard, like most other species of ducks, has a pronounced sexual dimorphism in plumage (external differences between males and females), which is especially noticeable in winter and spring, when ducks form pairs. In the breeding coat, the drake of the nominative subspecies has a shiny dark green head and neck, ending in a narrow white "collar" (the collar has a gap in the back of the neck), a brownish-gray back with small dark strokes, in the back it acquires a darker, black-brown color, black uppertail, chocolate-brown chest and grayish belly with a transverse striate pattern. The wings are brownish-gray above with a bright blue-violet mirror with white edges, almost white below. The size of the mirror increases with the age of the bird. The tail has a black curl formed by the middle helmsmen. The rest of the tail feathers are straight, light gray in color. In summer, after molting, the male becomes more like a female, losing contrast and instead acquiring protective black-brown tones. During this period, it can be distinguished from the duck by its chestnut (but not ocher) chest and yellow beak. Legs orange-red with darker membranes.
An adult female retains a uniform plumage pattern regardless of the season. Outwardly, it differs little from the females of many other river ducks - all of them are united by a motley combination of black, brown and red tones in the upper body. Bottom, undertail and uppertail are buffy or reddish-brown, with vague dark-brown spots. The chest is buffy, straw-colored. Distinctive features - the same as in the male, a shiny mirror on the wing, a dark stripe across the eye and the same light above it. Legs are paler in comparison with male - dirty or pale orange. Young birds, regardless of gender, are more like a female, differing from her in dull plumage and less spotting below. In addition, in juveniles, dark specks on the body are longitudinal, not V-shaped, and are distributed in the form of a longitudinal striped pattern.
In the field, identifying a male in a breeding feather is usually straightforward. In other cases, the main difference from closely related species is a blue-violet mirror with white edges, clearly visible in flying birds of both sexes. It differs from the black mallard in the pattern of the beak (in the black mallard it is black with a yellow top) and the absence of a white spot on the wing, from other river ducks - in larger sizes and a blue mirror.
Voice
When frightened, quacking is more prolonged, and before takeoff, it is quiet and hasty. The female's voice in autumn and winter, calling the male, is a loud “kuak-kuak-kuak-kuak-kuak”. During courtship of females, drakes emit a high but hoarse whistle with the help of a syrinx - a bone formation in the lower part of the trachea.
Spreading
Area
The mallard is widespread in the northern hemisphere. Breeds as in arctic latitudes to the north up to 70 ° N. sh., and in a warm subtropical climate south to 35 ° N. NS. in North Africa and up to 20 ° N. NS. in the Middle East.
Seasonal migrations
More eastern populations of the north of the European part of Russia migrate to the Don basin, the North Caucasus, Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean. From Western Siberia, mallards winter in a wide range from the Balkans in the west to the Caspian lowland in the east; a few fly much farther, reaching the Nile delta. The populations nesting in the Irtysh and Ob basins move mainly to the coastal regions of the Caspian Sea and the republics of Central Asia. Birds nesting in northeast Asia and the Far East winter on the Japanese islands.
Outside the breeding season, in molting aggregations, on migration and in wintering grounds, mallards keep in flocks, the size of which can vary from several units to several hundred and even thousands of individuals.
In many large cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, populations of sedentary urbanized ducks have formed, nesting in the city itself or its environs. In Western Europe, nesting of mallards in attics and in all kinds of niches of city buildings is no longer a rarity. So, on the roof of a five-story building in the central part of Berlin, the mallard nest for three years in a row. The emergence of sedentary populations of mallards in large cities is associated with the presence of non-freezing water bodies, feeding of birds by people and the absence of many natural enemies.
Habitat
Mallard is common in the middle forest zone and forest-steppe, becomes rare at the northern borders of woody vegetation, in the mountains and in most deserts.
Inhabits a wide variety of water bodies with fresh, brackish or salt water and shallow areas, but avoids lakes with completely bare banks, streams, mountain rivers and other streams with a fast current, as well as oligotrophic (containing little organic matter) water bodies. During the nesting period, it prefers internal freshwater reservoirs with stagnant water and overgrown with reeds, cattail or other tall grass banks. In the forest-tundra it settles mainly in wooded areas near rivers, in the forest belt it often inhabits oxbow lakes in wooded floodplains, but avoids narrow forest streams. In the forest-steppe, it also often nests in sedge bogs. In the desert zone, it is extremely rare, mainly in wetlands. Outside the breeding season, it often stays in river estuaries and in sea bays along the coasts. Tolerant to humans, often found in city ponds, reservoirs and irrigation canals.
Features of biology
It keeps alone, in pairs and flocks on the water or near the water. The flight is fast, very noisy. The flaps of the wings are accompanied by frequent sonorous sounds "vit-whit-whit-whit", by which the mallard can be distinguished without even seeing a flying bird. In a flying bird, white stripes on the wing bordering the mirror are clearly distinguished. It rises relatively easily from the water.
She dives only when she is wounded, she is able to swim tens of meters under water. She walks on the ground waddling, but when injured she is able to run nimbly.
Nutrition
It is very flexible in the choice of feed, it easily adapts to local conditions. It feeds in shallow waters using filtration, straining small aquatic animals and plant food through the horn plates of the beak. It feeds on plant foods (duckweed, hornwort, etc.), small invertebrates, insects, molluscs, small fish, crustaceans, tadpoles, even frogs.
Often the mallard rises in the water vertically, tail up, trying to reach the plants growing at the bottom of the reservoir. It feeds most often in shallow water with a depth of 30-35 cm, where it gets food from the bottom, turning at the same time vertically upside down, but not diving.
In early spring, when the reservoirs are still covered with ice, mallards keep on the openings. Overwintered green parts of aquatic plants form the basis of the diet at this time. In winter, the amount of animal feed in the mallard's diet is sharply reduced. In the first half of winter, they feed mainly on shoots of aquatic plants and seeds.
At the end of July and August in the middle lane, and in the south in September, plant foods begin to prevail over animals. Of great importance are the wintering parts of plants that are formed by this time: tubers different types arrowhead ( Sagittaria), fruitlets of pondweed ( Potamogeton pectinatus), frog buds, or frogs ( Hydrocharis morsus-ranae), and in some places pemphigus vulgaris ( Utricularia vulgaris). In late August and autumn, mallards willingly fly to feed on grain fields. On them, birds collect fallen grains of cereals - wheat, rye, oats and millet, in the south of Primorye also rice, which in some places make up a significant part of their food ration. Departing in the evening, they spend all night in the fields, returning to reservoirs only in the morning.
On city ponds and other artificial reservoirs, mallards are very numerous, they completely get used to people and live, first of all, by feeding.
Molting
Mallard ducks are characterized by two seasonal molts: full at the end of the breeding season and partial before its beginning. A complete change of plumage begins in males from the moment when females begin to hatch eggs, and in females when broods rise on the wing. Females without a pair begin to molt simultaneously with the drakes, and then some ducks that have lost their clutches join them. Females with broods molt later in nesting places.
Since the end of May, most of the drakes huddle in same-sex flocks and fly off to molt, the other part remains to molt in nesting places. In Russia, the places where massive accumulations of birds for molt occur are located mainly in the steppe and forest-steppe zones: from the Volga delta, through the steppes of the middle reaches of the Urals, Ilek and the Trans-Ural steppe lakes. In Europe, outside Russia, large molting accumulations have been recorded in the Matsalu Bay in Estonia, along the coast of the Netherlands, on Lake Constance in Central Europe.
The sequence of changing the plumage is as follows: the swirling tail drakes fall out first. Then - contour feathers, after which hemp of new plumage appear on the neck, chest, abdomen, head and undertail. Then feathers fall out from the upper back, followed by the loss of flight feathers. When new flight feathers grow, the upper and lower wing coverts fall out. When the new wing coverts have already formed a "mirror", the molt of the head and lower half of the body is almost complete. Flight feathers grow, as a result of which the duck regains the ability to fly. The molt ends with the renewal of the feathers of the back and tail feathers. The change of the latter begins at the first stages of molting and extends over a long period. The total molt duration is about two months. The period during which the bird loses its ability to fly as a result of the loss of flight feathers lasts 20-25 days for the mallard, while the period of growth and full deployment of these feathers takes 30-35 days. Moulting birds spend the day in thickets of aquatic vegetation, and in the evening they swim to feed on areas of open water.
Reproduction
Most birds start breeding from the age of one. In sedentary populations, pairing occurs in the fall; in the rest, in the spring, upon arrival at the nesting sites. Since many migratory females winter in more southern latitudes than males, their return occurs at a later period. The beginning of the breeding season is highly dependent on latitude - in the southern periphery of the range it occurs in February, while in the northern only in June. Breeds in pairs or in small loose groups.
Marriage rituals
In spring flocks of drakes, as a rule, there are more than females - this is explained by the high percentage of death of the latter during the period of incubation and breeding. This often leads to a rivalry between two or more drakes for the right to own a female, a fight between them, and even attempts at copulation with a female who has already paired with another drake. The aggressiveness of several males sometimes leads to the fact that ducks drown under their weight.
Sometimes a duck chooses a drake - it swims around it and repeatedly nods its head back, as if "over its shoulder". Mating is also accompanied by many ritual movements: the couple moves away from the flock and begins to twitch their head from the bottom up, the beak, in its lower position, touches the water, all the time remaining almost horizontal. Then the female stretches her neck, spreading out on the water in front of the drake, he climbs on her side and holds on to the feathers of the neck with his beak. After mating, the male straightens up and makes a "circle of honor" around the female on the water. Then both mallards bathe for a long time and shake off the water from their feathers.
Nest
As a rule, the male protects the territory and stays near the female only until the time when she begins to hatch eggs. There are cases when drakes were at the nest during the incubation period, and then took part in raising chicks. However, the overwhelming majority of males do not participate in nesting cares, in the middle or at the end of incubation they stray into same-sex flocks and fly off to postbreeding molt. Clutches from early April (in the south of the range) and later.
The nest is usually well covered and located close to water, but sometimes it can be located at a considerable distance from it. It often settles in thickets of reeds or reeds, on rafts, in hummocks, under trees, bushes, among windbreaks and dead woods. Sometimes the duck nests above the ground - in hollows, half-hollows, sometimes in old nests of crows, herons and other large birds. When breeding on the ground, the nest is a depression in the ground or grass, abundantly lined with fluff along the edges. In dry places it is even and deep, only slightly lined with soft and dry grass. The mallard deepens the fossa with its beak and straightens it with its chest, spinning in one place for a long time. The material for the lining is far from being carried, but for the most part it takes that which can be reached with the beak without leaving the nest. In damp and humid places, the mallard first builds a large heap of grass, reeds, etc., and already creates a nesting hole in it. The diameter of the nest is 200-290 mm, the height of the sides above the ground is 40-140 mm, the diameter of the tray is 150-200 mm, the depth of the tray is 40-130 mm.
The male, as a rule, does not take part in the arrangement of the nest, but can accompany the female to the nest, when she goes to lay the next egg. The first eggs are laid in an unfinished nest, and as the clutch grows, the female adds a new portion of fluff to it, which she pulls out from her breast. The down is laid on the periphery of the nesting tray, in a ring, forming a kind of sides, covering the incubating bird on the sides. Leaving the nest, the female covers the eggs with down, which contributes to the retention of heat during her absence.
A large number of mallard clutches perish as a result of the destruction of nests by predators. The most significant damage is done by foxes and raccoon dogs, crows and swamp harriers. In the floodplains of rivers and along the banks of reservoirs, nests often perish from sudden flooding.
Females that have lost their clutch before the start of incubation usually continue to lay eggs, carrying them to one of the nearby duck nests, sometimes to the nests of other birds, for example, a pheasant. If the clutch is lost, the mallard can build a new nest and lay eggs again, however, as a rule, the repeated clutch is less than the original.
Eggs
Oviposition from mid-April to mid-May. The female lays one egg per day, usually in the evening. Incubation begins with the last egg, when the first laid have already a well-distinguishable embryonic disc. Footnote error: Invalid call: no key was specified... Typically, the number of eggs per nest ranges from 9 to 13. There are frequent cases of being thrown up by ducks nesting in the vicinity, as a result of which the clutches become very large - up to 16 eggs and more. Such nests quickly become ownerless and the brood dies. The eggs are of a standard shape, with a white shell with a greenish-olive shade. During incubation, the shade usually disappears. Eggs from the same clutch are similar in size and color, but different clutches can be very different from one another, both in size and in the shape of the eggs. Egg sizes: 49-67 × 34-46 mm. The weight of non-incubated eggs is about 46 g (40-52 g).
Chicks
The weight of the newly hatched chicks varies from 25 to 38 g. Drying of the chick lasts two to three hours. The brood leaves the nest approximately 12-16 hours after the first chick hatches. By this time, the chicks are already able to move on land, swim and dive. Chicks dive well and constantly use this technique, fleeing predators.
During the day, ducklings gather under bushes or in thickets of vegetation on the shore, sometimes at a distance of up to 50 m from the water. Young chicks often bask near the female under her wings and fluffy breast plumage. In the first days after hatching, they spend time with their mother at least once every two hours.
Chicks feed on their own. At first, they feed only on small insects and spiders, not paying attention to stationary objects. At the same time, they peck food mainly from plants or from each other, and only later begin to collect it from the surface of the earth and from the water. The food of chicks for 83.4% consists of animal feed, of which 35% by volume are dragonfly larvae crawling out on the surface of plants, 8% are mollusks and 15% are planktonic crustaceans.
At first, the chicks are active only during the daytime, then they begin to feed in the evening. Chicks switch completely to the evening feeding regime when corneous plates on their beak develop and they acquire the ability to get food for themselves by straining.
From the very first days the chicks recognize each other and drive off the chicks that join them from other broods. The female does the same. The voice of downy chicks is a high-pitched and sonorous squeak: females emit two-syllable whistles, males one-syllable. At about five weeks of age, females begin to quack. Chicks grow quickly - at the age of 10 days they weigh about 100 g, 20 days - 320 g, 30 days - 550-600 g, by 60 days - about 800-900 g.
Approximately on the 23rd day of life, the chick begins to develop contour and primary feathers. On the 28th day, the chest and belly are already covered with feathers, and after another 10 days, only the back of the neck, part of the back and sides of the body, covered with wings, remain unfeathered. At about 50 days of age, the chicks begin to take off, and by 56-60 days they fully stand on the wing.
Chicks stay with the female for 7-8 weeks. By this time, many broods have already disintegrated or united in autumn flocks.
Natural enemies
A large number of mallard eggs die as a result of predators ravaging the nests. The most significant damage is done by foxes and raccoon dogs, crows and marsh harrier.
Infectious diseases
A sick bird acquires intense immunity only against the homologous subtype of the virus.
Neisseriosis is an infectious disease characterized by reddening of the mucous membrane of the cloaca with the formation of fibrinous scabs, bleeding erosions, in drakes it manifests itself as sclerotic inflammation of the penis with curvature and its falling out of the cloaca. The causative agent is diplococcus from the genus Nelsseria... It proceeds in the form of an epizootic, as well as sporadic cases.
Mallard and man
Economic value
In most of its range, the mallard is one of the main objects of sports, and in some places - commercial hunting. The net weight of the mallard meat carcass is 69% of the live weight of the drake and 65% of the duck, which is 835 and 730 g for the fishing period.
Visiting fields of wheat, rye, oats, millet, rice crops in autumn, they often cause significant damage to them in areas located near water bodies. Along with this, they are beneficial, destroying orthoptera pests and massive consumption of weed seeds.
Hunting
In modern conditions, the mallard is one of the main and popular objects of sports and commercial hunting. The latter refers to the area of the lacustrine forest-steppe, the deltas of the southern rivers and wintering areas. Its share in relation to other types of wild game is more than 50%.
Hunting for mallards is allowed in summer and autumn - usually from the dawn of the second (third) Saturday of August, in the southern regions a little later, and in the spring season - on drakes, for a period of no more than 15 calendar days. In the summer-autumn season, hunting with dogs that have a certificate of origin may be allowed 2-3 weeks before the general opening date of the season. On the territory of Russia, the rules and timing of hunting are established separately in each republic, territory, region on the basis of the Model rules of hunting in the Russian Federation.
Summer-autumn hunting is the most widespread and most widespread.
Hunting with dogs... For hunting ducks, dogs of various breeds are often used: spaniels, huskies, hounds, English cops, Scottish setters. Duck hunting with a dog takes place mainly in the mornings and evenings. Trying to keep upwind, the hunter walks along the shore of the reservoir or through the thickets of aquatic vegetation, and the dog, searching overgrown places ahead, raises the ducks on the wing. The spaniel, when the duck takes off, gives a voice, warning the owner. After the shot and fall of the duck, the dog searches for the killed bird or catches the killed bird, and brings the prey to the owner
Mallard is a duck from the duck family, a genus of river ducks. The most numerous and prosperous species of ducks. Large stocky bird, large head, short tail. The body length of the drake is 62 cm, the length of the female is 57 cm, the weight of the birds is from 1-1.5 kg, in the period before the autumn flight, the mallard is fattening and weighs up to 2 kg. The female can be distinguished from the male by the size and color. The male has a green head and neck, brown-brown goiter and chest, back and abdomen gray with thin transverse specks. The female is brown in color with darker spots than in the male, the ventral side is gray brown-gray with longitudinal streaks. On the wings of both sexes there is a blue-violet reflection "mirror". The beak is flat and wide, the ridges of the horny plates are well developed. The beak color of the female and the drake has a different color. The beak of a drake during the breeding season is of an ocher-olive shade at the base, buffy or yellow at the end, a wide black marigold. The beak of adult birds ranges from olive to dark gray with orange edges, sometimes completely orange. There are always some small black specks at the base of the female's beak. Sexual dimorphism of the mallard is pronounced, very noticeable in winter and spring, during the formation of a pair. In the breeding plumage, the male has a brilliant color: a dark green head and neck with a narrow white "collar", a brownish-gray back with small dark strokes, a darker back, a black upper tail, a chocolate brown breast, a gray belly with a transverse striated pattern. The wings are brownish-gray above with a bright blue-violet mirror with white edges, white below. The size of the mirror increases with the age of the bird.
The tail has a black curl formed by the middle helmsmen. In summer, after the moulting season, the male becomes similar to the female, loses its bright contrast and acquires protective black-brown tones. An adult female retains its feather color regardless of the season. Outwardly, it is almost different from the females of other river ducks. Bottom, undertail and uppertail are buffy or reddish-brown, with vague dark-brown spots. The chest is buffy straw-colored and has a shiny mirror on the wing. The paws of the female are paler than those of the male - dirty or pale orange. Young birds are similar to the female, differ from her in dull plumage and less spotting below.
Distribution area of Mallard
The mallard is common in the northern hemisphere. It inhabits Europe, with the exception of the high mountainous regions in the central part. Breeds in Scandinavia, Russia, to the south of Asia Minor, Iran, Afghanistan, southern slopes of the Himalayas, on the Commander, Aleutian, Pribylov, Kuril Islands, on the Japanese islands south to the middle of the island of Honshu, as well as in Hawaii, Iceland and Greenland. Outside of its natural range, it was introduced in South Africa, New Zealand and Southeast Australia, where it is considered an invasive species. Mallard ducks are migratory birds that fly away in winter to the Mediterranean Sea, the Caspian Sea, to Central and South Asia (in America, to Florida and California).
Habitat and Lifestyle Mallard
Mallard inhabits a variety of fresh and brackish water bodies, but avoids lakes with bare banks, streams, mountain rivers, water bodies and streams with fast-flowing water, as well as oligotrophic (containing little organic matter) water bodies. In the forest-tundra there are wooded regions of rivers, in the forest-steppe there are sedge bogs. Migrant. Winters are spent on non-freezing water bodies in large cities and their environs. During the nesting period, it likes to inhabit inland freshwater reservoirs with stagnant water and thickets of reeds.
In the forest-tundra it is found mainly in forest areas close to rivers, in the forest belt it inhabits lakes in wooded floodplains, but tries to avoid narrow forest streams. On the territory of deserts it is very rare, mainly in wetlands. Outside the nesting season, it often inhabits river estuaries, sea bays along the coast. It keeps alone, in pairs and flocks on the water or on the shore. The mallard's flight is fast, very noisy. The flaps of the wings are accompanied by the sonorous sounds of "vit-whit-whit-whit", by which the mallard can be distinguished without even seeing a flying bird. During the flight, the flying mallard has white stripes on the wing, bordering the mirror. It takes off easily from the water. Only wounded can dive, she is able to swim 10 meters under water. Walks on the ground waddling from paw to paw.
Eating Mallard
The mallard easily adapts to the terrain. It obtains food in shallow waters by filtration, straining out small aquatic animals and plant food through the horny plates of the beak. It feeds on plant foods - duckweed, hornwort, leaves and bulbs of many aquatic plants, and seeds of cereals. Animal food - aquatic insects, snails, slugs, small crustaceans, small invertebrates, insects, molluscs, small fish, crustaceans, tadpoles, sometimes frogs.
Often it rises vertically in water, tail up, trying to reach the vegetation at the bottom of the reservoir. It feeds mainly in shallow water with a depth of 30-35 cm, where it gets food from the bottom, turning vertically upside down, but not diving. In early spring, when the reservoirs are still covered with ice, mallards keep on the openings. The basis of the diet during this period is the green parts of aquatic plants. In winter, mallards feed on shoots of aquatic plants and seeds. In the summer, the mallard's diet is dominated by plants: arrowhead tubers, pondweed fruits, frog buds, and it also flies to feed on grain fields with cereal grains - wheat, rye, oats and millet, rice. Departing in the evening, ducks spend all night in the fields and return to reservoirs only in the morning.
Mallard Reproduction
At the age of one year, mallards begin to reproduce. In sedentary populations, pairs are formed in the fall, in the rest in the spring upon arrival to the nesting areas. Ducks appear at their nesting sites in March, when the ice was still not melting on the reservoirs. Many migratory females spend winters in southern latitudes than males; their return occurs at a later period. In the south of the range, the breeding season is in February, in the northern part of the range in June. Pairs are formed during wintering or have been preserved since last year. Elegant drakes arrange wedding dances, rise almost vertically above the water, flapping their wings in a picturesque way and bending their necks, accompanying the show with chirping sounds and screams. This will not do without fights. Single males, of which there are many, pursue married ducks, causing the just indignation of their spouses. Legitimate husbands screaming at the offenders, showing themselves in all their glory. Females love fan knight tournaments. Often the female instigates her husband to fight. Seeing in the distance other people's drakes, the duck excites its half and, with an indignant cry, points its beak at the approaching males. An obedient spouse rushes at the one whom his lady indicated.
Birds nest in pairs or small free colonies. In spring flocks of drakes, more than females - which is explained by the high percentage of death of females during incubation and hatching of chicks. This often leads to rivalry between the drakes and the female. The aggressiveness of several males sometimes leads to the fact that ducks drown under their weight. Drakes flow after the autumn molt in September. At the beginning of spring, the activity of males increases again and continues until May. The demonstrative behavior of drakes is common for many members of the duck family. Leading males gather in small flocks on the water and swim around the selected female. At the beginning, the bird's neck is pulled into the shoulders, the beak is lowered, the tail twitches. Suddenly, the male convulsively throws his head forward and up, usually 3 times in a row within a few seconds. The intensity increases, and on the last throw, the male often rises above the water, assuming an almost vertical position and spreading his wings. Often the action is accompanied by a characteristic sharp whistle and a fountain of splashes, which the male pushes out with a sharp movement of his beak. Having noticed a suitable female, he throws back his head in front of her, hides her behind a slightly raised wing and abruptly draws his beak along the wing with a fingernail, making a rattling sound. Sometimes a duck chooses a drake - it swims around it and repeatedly nods its head back, as if "over its shoulder". After mating, the male straightens up and makes a "circle of honor" around the female on the water. Then both mallards bathe for a long time and shake off the water from their feathers.
The male protects the territory and keeps near the female until the time when she begins to hatch eggs. But there were cases when drakes were at the nest during the incubation period, and then took part in caring for the chicks. Most males do not take part in caring for offspring and in the middle or at the end of incubation they stray into same-sex flocks and fly off to postbreeding molt. The nest is usually well covered and located close to the water, but sometimes it can be located at a great distance from it. Basically, it is built in thickets of reeds or reeds, on rafts, under trees, kustmia, among windbreaks and dead woods. Sometimes the duck nests above the ground - in hollows, half-hollows, sometimes in old nests of crows, herons and other large birds. The nest is a recess in the ground or grass, lined with fluff along the edges. In dry places it is even and deep, only slightly lined with soft and dry grass. The material for the lining is far from being carried, but for the most part it takes that which can be reached with the beak without leaving the nest. The diameter of the nest is 200-290 mm, the height of the sides above the ground is 40-140 mm, the diameter of the tray is 150-200 mm. The male does not take part in the arrangement of the nest, but he can accompany the female to the nest when she goes to lay the next egg. The first eggs are laid in an unfinished nest, and as the clutch grows, the female adds a new portion of fluff to it, which she pulls out from her breast. The down is laid on the periphery of the nesting tray, in a ring, forming a kind of sides, covering the incubating bird on the sides. Leaving the nest, the female covers the eggs with down, which contributes to the retention of heat during her absence. In the first period of incubation, the female leaves the nest for feeding and rest in the morning and evening. Incubation begins with the last egg, when the first ones laid have a well-discernible embryonic disc. Clutch consists of 9-13 eggs with a white shell with a greenish-olive shade. During incubation, the shade usually disappears. The incubation period is 22-29 days. All chicks hatch almost simultaneously - for no more than 10, less often - 14 hours. The eggs laid by the last ones go through their development cycle in a shorter time than the previous ones. Mallard is a brood bird. The color of the downy chick on the back is dark olive, with two pairs of yellowish-white spots in the back of the wing and on both sides of the loin. The belly is gray-yellow, which then acquires a yellow-yellow tones. The cheeks are rather reddish. A dark narrow strip runs from the top of the beak through the eye to the back of the head; there is a dark spot in the ear area. The paws and beak are olive-gray, the latter with a pinkish marigold. Fledging young birds are very similar to the adult female, but have indistinct spots that form longitudinal stripes along the body. Males are distinguished by the presence of a wavy pattern on some coverts of the secondary flight feathers in the area of the elbow bend, in females in this place there are irregular or transverse brownish spots or stripes. The weight of the newly hatched chicks varies from 26-38 g. Drying of the chick lasts two to three hours. The brood leaves the nest approximately 12-16 hours after the first chick hatches. By this time, the chicks are already able to move on land, swim and dive. Chicks dive well and constantly use this technique, fleeing predators. During the day, ducklings gather under bushes or in thickets of vegetation on the shore, sometimes at a distance of up to 50 m from the water.
Young chicks often bask near the female under her wings and fluffy breast plumage. In the first days after hatching, they spend time with their mother at least once every two hours. Chicks feed on their own. At first, they feed only on small insects and spiders, not paying attention to stationary objects. At the same time, they peck food mainly from plants or from each other, and only later begin to collect it from the surface of the earth and from the water. Food for chicks from animal feed, dragonfly larvae crawling out on the surface of plants, mollusks, planktonic crustaceans. At first, the chicks are active only during the daytime, then they begin to feed in the evening. Chicks switch completely to the evening feeding regime when corneous plates on their beak develop and they acquire the ability to get food for themselves by straining. From the very first days the chicks recognize each other and drive off the chicks that join them from other broods. The female does the same. The voice of downy chicks is a high-pitched and sonorous squeak: females emit two-syllable whistles, males one-syllable. At about five weeks of age, females begin to quack. On the 28th day, the chest and belly are already covered with feathers, and after another 10 days, only the back of the neck, part of the back and sides of the body, covered with wings, remain unfeathered. At about 50 days of age, the chicks begin to take off, and by 56-60 days they fully stand on the wing. Chicks stay with the female for 7-8 weeks. By this time, many broods have already disintegrated or united in autumn flocks. When ducks come out accompanied by chicks (which can often be observed even in cities), there are no drakes nearby, and often only females with chicks remain on the pond. And the drakes are far away. Huddled in bachelor flocks, they flew away for the summer moult. The distance of such flights can be judged by the fact that ducks nesting in Western Siberia molt off the coast of the Caspian Sea. Molting birds hide from all dangers on large lakes and river deltas, in spacious thickets of reeds or reeds. Flight feathers fall out at once, and birds cannot fly until new ones grow. Females that do not leave their brood molt a little later, when the chicks grow up. Having changed the entire feather outfit by mid-August, the mallards will partially change their clothes at the end of August - they will replace the faded summer feathers with a bright mating outfit, which will be useful to them only next spring. ^
Domestic ducks originate from the living wild ducks - mallards. The ancestors of ducks are distinguished by a powerful compact exterior: they have a strong, dense body, have a wide, flat, towards the end a somewhat rounded beak. The legs are of a commensurate length with the body, with long, rounded claws. Their live weight is up to 1.5 kg. Like many other wild birds, males are transformed by the mating season. Their head plumage becomes much more elegant than that of females. On the wings of both the male and the female, violet-blue mirrors appear and a white frame - a border.
Duck body stats:
1 - head, 2 - nape, 3 - throat, 4 - neck region from throat to goiter, 5 - goiter (false goiter), 6 - neck, 7 - chest, 8 - chest, 9 - back, 10 - wing, 11 - leg, 12 - skin fold. 13 - belly, 14 - ass, 15 - tail
The head of meat breeds of ducks (Peking) is long, with a slightly raised wide forehead; ducks have their own "waterfowl" features. Unlike land birds, their beak is not triangular, but flat and long, with a slight bend at the end. Horny teeth are located along its edges, which play the role of a sieve for filtering water and retaining edible particles. With its long beak, the duck constantly “chomps” in dirty water, evaluating its contents.
Parts of the head of a duck: 1 - upper beak, 2 - lower beak, 3 - beak claw, 4 - nasal opening, 5 - beak base, 6 - forehead, 7 - crown, 8 - crown, 9 - facial part, 10 - ear opening, 11 - parotid region, 12 - chin, 13 - lower part of the occiput, I - brow arch, II - eye
In ducks, like in geese, the edges of the beak have transverse skin plates with a large number of nerve endings of the trigeminal nerve, which serves as the organ of touch for them. The color of the beak in Peking ducks is orange - yellow, in khaki - Campbell - dark gray. During oviposition, the beak brightens. Ducks have a wide, elongated and thicker tongue than chickens.
On the lateral surface of the tongue, there are two rows of protrusions surrounded by nipples and openings of small glands that produce mucus. All this is also involved in filtering and catching feed.
On the head of the musky duck, solid fleshy warty skin covers the entire facial part, and a fleshy outgrowth passes on the forehead. In drakes, this formation is larger than in ducks, which makes it possible to better distinguish between sex.
The neck of this bird is of medium length, in ducks of meat breeds it is thick, in general-use (mirror, khaki - Cambell) - of medium length. The body is wide, deep, well-muscled, the back is broad and straight. In Indian runners, the body posture is almost vertical (standing).
The duck gait cannot be confused with any other. Short legs, located closer to the back of the body, fingers fused with the membrane, horizontal positioning of the body, determine the awkwardness of movements, and when walking fast, the ducks lose their balance and fall on the chest. But all these features contribute to fast and maneuverable swimming and diving.
In the interbreeding period, the outfits of both sexes are similar: the head is pale gray in color, the rest of the plumage is brownish with a dark pattern. By the usual period in males, the front part of the body takes on a dark appearance with a green tint, from the chestnut coloration of the goiter and chest and the brown-chestnut upper part of the back, the neck is distinguished by a white, sharply limited ring.
The wings become blue with a tint. The tail coverts are black - green, the four middle feathers are sharply bent in the form of rings, which is one of the sex differences between males and females.
Molting. In ducklings, juvenile molt begins at 70-80 days of age and ends within two months. An incomplete molt is also possible, when a part of non-shedding feathers remains until the next molt. Periodically, ducks molt twice a year: the first in the summer (June - July), the second in the fall. Moreover, females molt 10-15 days later than drakes. Each breed has a period of periodical molting, but the chronology of its course is the same in all.
Summer (first) molt lasts 60 days - from late May to late July. It is characteristic that the summer molt precedes the mating season and makes it possible for the drakes of certain breeds to dress up in all bright, juicy colors. The central pair of tail feathers falls first, then the second, third, etc., until all nine pairs are renewed.
6-8 days after the first tail feathers, small feathers begin to fall out.
In the first molt, the first and second order flight feathers are also replaced. This happens sequentially from the tenth to the first. As a rule, the first order feathers are replaced within 15 days, the second - more slowly. The second molt occurs in autumn, from the second half of August to October (50-55 days). During the autumn molt, only tail feathers and small feathers are replaced. The helmsmen are replaced in the same sequence as in summer.
Mallard- a bird from the family of duck of the order Anseriformes. The most famous and widespread wild duck. The body length of the male is about 62 cm, of the female - about 57 cm, the weight reaches 1-1.5 kg (in the fall, when the bird is fattened just before the flight, its weight can reach 2 kg). The head and neck of the male are green, the goiter and chest are brownish-brown, the back and ventral side of the body are gray with thin transverse specks. The female is brownish with darker spots, the ventral side is brownish-gray with longitudinal streaks. On the wing of the male and female there is a blue-violet "mirror".
Partially migrant... Inhabits fresh and slightly brackish water bodies. V last years many birds winter in non-freezing water bodies in large cities and their environs.
Mallard is one of the main objects of sport, and in some places - commercial hunting. Most modern breeds of domestic ducks were bred from the mallard by selection, except for those that were bred from the muscovy duck.
Taxonomy
The first scientific description of the mallard was made in 1758 by the Swedish physician and naturalist Karl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Nature's Systems. Linnaeus incorrectly attributed the male and female mallard duck to different species: the female to the species Anas platyrhynchos("A. macula alari purpurea utrinque nigra albaque, pectore rufescente"), and the male - to the species Anas boscas("A. rectricibus intermediis (maris) recurvatis, rostro recto").
Refers to the common subgenus mallard Anas, in the genus River ducks, which is a monophyletic (in a broad sense, not holophyletic) group.
Description
Appearance
Quite large, stocky river duck with a large head and short tail. Length 51-62 cm, wingspan 80-100 cm, male wing 27.5-30.6 cm, female wing 25.2-28.5 cm, weight 0.75-1.5 kg. The beak is flat, wide with well-developed ridges of horny plates along the edges. The color of the beak is different in males and females. In drakes in the breeding plumage, it is buffy-olive at the base and more buffy or yellow at the end, has a rather wide black marigold. In adult ducks, the beak color most often varies from olive to dark gray with orange edges, but it can be completely orange. Several small black specks are always present at the base of the female's beak.
The mallard, like most other species of ducks, has a pronounced sexual dimorphism in plumage (external differences between males and females), which is especially noticeable in winter and spring, when ducks form pairs. In the breeding coat, the drake of the nominative subspecies has a shiny dark green head and neck, ending in a narrow white "collar" (the collar has a gap in the back of the neck), a brownish-gray back with small dark strokes, in the back it acquires a darker, black-brown color, black uppertail, chocolate-brown chest and grayish belly with a transverse striate pattern. The wings are brownish-gray above with a bright blue-violet mirror with white edges, almost white below. The size of the mirror increases with the age of the bird. The tail has a black curl formed by the middle helmsmen. The rest of the tail feathers are straight, light gray in color. In summer, after molting, the male becomes more like a female, losing contrast and instead acquiring protective black-brown tones. During this period, it can be distinguished from the duck by its chestnut (but not ocher) chest and yellow beak. Legs orange-red with darker membranes.
An adult female retains a uniform plumage pattern regardless of the season. Outwardly, it differs little from the females of many other river ducks - all of them are united by a motley combination of black, brown and red tones in the upper body. Bottom, undertail and uppertail are buffy or reddish-brown, with vague dark-brown spots. The chest is buffy, straw-colored. Distinctive features - the same as in the male, a shiny mirror on the wing, a dark stripe across the eye and the same light above it. Legs are paler in comparison with male - dirty or pale orange. Young birds, regardless of gender, are more like a female, differing from her in dull plumage and less spotting below. In addition, in juveniles, dark specks on the body are longitudinal, not V-shaped, and are distributed in the form of a longitudinal striped pattern.
There are from 2 to 7 wild subspecies of the mallard, while in recent years most experts tend to consider only 3 subspecies - the nominative A. p. platyrhynchos, distributed over most of the territory, A. p. diazi from Mexico and the surrounding United States, and A. p. conboschas from southwestern Greenland. It is noteworthy that the last 2 subspecies have significant differences from the main nominative one. Drake subspecies A. p. diazi has a very dark and less contrasting plumage, which makes it look like a female even in breeding plumage. His eyebrow has a greenish tint, and his beak is olive. Subspecies A. p. conboschas noticeably larger than the nominative, has a shorter beak, swollen at the base due to the strong development of the nasal glands, and dull plumage.
In the field, identifying a male in a breeding feather is usually straightforward. In other cases, the main difference from closely related species is a blue-violet mirror with white edges, clearly visible in flying birds of both sexes. It differs from the black mallard in the pattern of the beak (in the black mallard it is black with a yellow top) and the absence of a white spot on the wing, from other river ducks - in larger sizes and a blue mirror.
Voice
The usual voice is a quiet quack - "rab-rab-rab". The female's voice is a quack, like that of a domestic duck. Instead of quacking, the male has a muffled velvety sound “shaaak” or “shaaaark”. When frightened, quacking is more prolonged, and before takeoff, it is quiet and hasty. The female's voice in autumn and winter, calling the male, is a loud “kuak-kuak-kuak-kuak-kuak”. During courtship of females, drakes emit a high but hoarse whistle with the help of a syrinx - a bone formation in the lower part of the trachea.
Spreading
Area
The mallard is widespread in the northern hemisphere. Breeds as in arctic latitudes to the north up to 70 ° N. sh., and in a warm subtropical climate south to 35 ° N. NS. in North Africa and up to 20 ° N. NS. in the Middle East.
In Europe, it settles almost everywhere, with the exception of the highlands in the central part, Scandinavia north of 70 ° N. NS. and strips of treeless tundra in Russia. In Siberia, it is distributed to the north to Salekhard, Turukhansk, the middle reaches of the Lower Tunguska, the Taigonos Peninsula on the Sea of Okhotsk and North Kamchatka. In Asia, south to Asia Minor, Iran, Afghanistan, the southern slopes of the Himalayas, the Chinese province of Gansu and the Zhili Gulf of the Yellow Sea. Outside the mainland, breeds on the Commander, Aleutian, Pribilova, Kuril Islands, on the Japanese islands south to the middle of the island of Honshu, as well as in Hawaii, Iceland and Greenland.
In North America, it is absent from the tundra zone in the north and the eastern part of the mainland south to Nova Scotia and the American state of Maine. In the south, it reaches southern California and other US states bordering Mexico, but does not nest there and is found only in winter. Outside of its natural range, it has been introduced in South Africa, New Zealand and Southeast Australia, where it is considered a species disturbing the local ecology.
Seasonal migrations
Partially migratory. The population of Greenland, concentrated in the coastal strip in the southwest of the island, is sedentary. In Iceland, most of the birds also do not leave the island, the rest winter in the British Isles. Most of the birds nesting in northwest Russia, Finland, Sweden and the Baltics move to the coasts of Western Europe from Denmark west to France and the UK. Another part, more numerous in warm years, remains to winter in nesting places. In the rest of Europe, mallards are predominantly sedentary.
More eastern populations of the north of the European part of Russia migrate to the Don basin, the North Caucasus, Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean. From Western Siberia, mallards winter in a wide range from the Balkans in the west to the Caspian lowland in the east; a few fly much farther, reaching the Nile delta. The populations nesting in the Irtysh and Ob basins move mainly to the coastal regions of the Caspian Sea and the republics of Central Asia. Birds nesting in northeast Asia and the Far East overwinter in the Japanese islands.
In the Himalayas, the mallard makes seasonal migrations, descending into less snowy valleys in winter. In North America, the boundary between migratory and sedentary populations runs roughly along the US-Canadian border. Wintering areas outside the nesting area - the southeastern states of the United States, California, Arizona, Baja California, the states of Mexico adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico, some islands of the Caribbean Sea.
Outside the breeding season, in molting aggregations, on migration and in wintering grounds, mallards keep in flocks, the size of which can vary from several units to several hundred and even thousands of individuals.
In many large cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, populations of sedentary urbanized ducks have formed, nesting in the city itself or its environs. V Western Europe nesting of mallards in attics and in all kinds of niches of city buildings is no longer a rarity. So, on the roof of a five-story building in the central part of Berlin, the mallard made a nest for 3 years in a row. The emergence of sedentary populations of mallards in large cities is associated with the presence of non-freezing water bodies, feeding of birds by people and the absence of many natural enemies.
Habitat
Mallard is common in the middle forest zone and forest-steppe, becomes rare at the northern borders of woody vegetation, in the mountains and in most deserts.
Inhabits a wide variety of water bodies with fresh, brackish or salt water and shallow areas, but avoids lakes with completely bare banks, streams, mountain rivers and other streams with a fast current, as well as oligotrophic (containing little organic matter) water bodies. During the nesting period, it prefers internal freshwater reservoirs with stagnant water and overgrown with reeds, cattails or other tall grass banks. In the forest-tundra it settles mainly in wooded areas near rivers, in the forest belt it often inhabits oxbow lakes in wooded floodplains, but avoids narrow forest streams. In the forest-steppe, it also often nests in sedge bogs. In the desert zone, it is extremely rare, mainly in wetlands. Outside the breeding season, it often stays in river estuaries and in sea bays along the coasts. Tolerant to humans, often found in city ponds, reservoirs and irrigation canals.
In Altai, it rises to 2250 m above sea level, where it settles on lake plateaus. On the southern border of the range, it breeds exclusively in the mountains - in the Middle Atlas in northern Africa (up to 2000 m), the Himalayas (up to 1300 m), in Punjab and Kashmir, Kamikushi plateau (up to 1400 m) in Japan.
Features of biology
It keeps alone, in pairs and flocks on the water or near the water. The flight is fast, very noisy. The flaps of the wings are accompanied by frequent sonorous sounds "vit-whit-whit-whit", by which the mallard can be distinguished even without seeing a flying bird. In a flying bird, white stripes on the wing bordering the mirror are clearly distinguished. It rises relatively easily from the water.
She dives only when she is wounded, she is able to swim tens of meters under water. She walks on the ground waddling, but when injured she is able to run nimbly.
Nutrition
It is very flexible in the choice of feed, it easily adapts to local conditions. It feeds in shallow waters using filtration, straining small aquatic animals and plant food through the horn plates of the beak. It feeds on plant foods (duckweed, hornwort, etc.), small invertebrates, insects, molluscs, small fish, crustaceans, tadpoles, even frogs.
Often the mallard rises in the water vertically, tail up, trying to reach the plants growing at the bottom of the reservoir. It feeds most often in shallow water with a depth of 30-35 cm, where it gets food from the bottom, turning at the same time vertically upside down, but not diving.
In early spring, when the reservoirs are still covered with ice, mallards keep on the openings. Overwintered green parts of aquatic plants form the basis of the diet at this time. In winter, the amount of animal feed in the mallard's diet is sharply reduced. In the first half of winter, they feed mainly on shoots of aquatic plants and seeds. At the end of July and August in the middle lane, and in the south in September, plant foods begin to prevail over animals. Of great importance are the overwintering parts of plants that are formed by this time: tubers of different types of arrowhead, fruitlets of pondweed, frog buds, or frogs, and in some places pemphigus vulgaris. In late August and autumn, mallards willingly fly to feed on grain fields. On them, birds collect fallen grains of cereals - wheat, rye, oats and millet, in the south of Primorye also rice, which in some places make up a significant part of their food ration. Departing in the evening, they spend all night in the fields, returning to reservoirs only in the morning.
On city ponds and other artificial reservoirs, mallards are very numerous, they completely get used to people and live primarily through feeding.
Molting
Mallard ducks are characterized by two seasonal molts: full at the end of the breeding season and partial before its beginning. A complete change of plumage begins in males from the moment when females begin to hatch eggs, and in females when broods rise on the wing. Females without a pair begin to molt simultaneously with the drakes, and then some ducks that have lost their clutches join them. Females with broods molt later in nesting places.
Since the end of May, most of the drakes huddle in same-sex flocks and fly off to molt, the other part remains to molt in nesting places. In Russia, the places where massive accumulations of birds for molting occur are located mainly in the steppe and forest-steppe zones: from the Volga delta, through the steppes of the middle reaches of the Urals, Ilek and the Trans-Ural steppe lakes. In Europe, outside Russia, large molting accumulations have been recorded in the Matsalu Bay in Estonia, along the coast of the Netherlands, on Lake Constance in Central Europe.
The sequence of changing the plumage is as follows: the swirling tail drakes fall out first. Then - contour feathers, after which hemp of new plumage appear on the neck, chest, abdomen, head and undertail. Then feathers fall out from the upper back, followed by the loss of flight feathers. When new flight feathers grow, the upper and lower wing coverts fall out. When the new wing coverts have already formed a "mirror", the molt of the head and lower half of the body is almost complete. Flight feathers grow, as a result of which the duck regains the ability to fly. The molt ends with the renewal of the feathers of the back and tail feathers. The change of the latter begins at the first stages of molting and extends over a long period. The total molt duration is about two months. The period during which the bird loses its ability to fly as a result of the loss of flight feathers lasts 20-25 days for the mallard, while the period of growth and full deployment of these feathers takes 30-35 days. Moulting birds spend the day in thickets of aquatic vegetation, and in the evening they swim to feed on areas of open water.
Reproduction
Most birds start breeding from the age of one. In sedentary populations, pairing occurs in the fall; in the rest, in the spring, upon arrival at the nesting sites. Since many migratory females winter in more southern latitudes than males, their return occurs at a later period. The beginning of the breeding season is highly dependent on latitude - in the southern periphery of the range it occurs in February, while in the northern only in June. Breeds in pairs or in small loose groups.
Marriage rituals
In spring flocks of drakes, as a rule, there are more than females - this is explained by the high percentage of death of the latter during the period of incubation and breeding. This often leads to a rivalry between two or more drakes for the right to own a female, a fight between them, and even attempts at copulation with a female who has already paired with another drake. The aggressiveness of several males sometimes leads to the fact that ducks drown under their weight.
Drakes begin to moult after the autumn molt in September. A short culmination occurs in October, after which bird activity decreases and subsides until the end of winter. With the beginning of spring, the activity of males increases again and continues until May. The demonstrative behavior of drakes is typical for many members of the duck family. Leading males gather in small groups on the water and swim around the selected female. At first, the bird's neck is pulled into the shoulders, the beak is down, the tail twitches. Suddenly, the male convulsively throws his head forward and up, usually 3 times in a row within a few seconds. The intensity of movement increases, and on the last throw, the male often rises above the water, assuming an almost vertical position and spreading his wings. Often the action is accompanied by a characteristic sharp whistle and a fountain of splashes, which the male pushes out with a sharp movement of his beak. Having noticed a suitable female, he throws back his head in front of her, hides her behind a slightly raised wing and abruptly draws his beak along the wing with a fingernail, making a rattling sound.
Sometimes a duck chooses a drake - it swims around it and repeatedly nods its head back, as if "over its shoulder". Mating is also accompanied by many ritual movements: the couple moves away from the flock and begins to twitch their head from the bottom up, the beak, in its lower position, touches the water, all the time remaining almost horizontal. Then the female stretches her neck, spreading out on the water in front of the drake, he climbs on her side and holds on to the feathers of the neck with his beak. After mating, the male straightens up and makes a "circle of honor" around the female on the water. Then both mallards bathe for a long time and shake off the water from their feathers.
Nest
As a rule, the male protects the territory and stays near the female only until the time when she begins to hatch eggs. There are cases when drakes were at the nest during the incubation period, and then took part in raising chicks. However, the overwhelming majority of males do not participate in nesting cares, in the middle or at the end of incubation they stray into same-sex flocks and fly off to postbreeding molt. Clutches from early April (in the south of the range) and later.
The nest is usually well covered and located close to water, but sometimes it can be located at a considerable distance from it. It often settles in thickets of reeds or reeds, on rafts, in hummocks, under trees, bushes, among windbreaks and dead wood. Sometimes the duck nests above the ground - in hollows, half-hollows, sometimes in old nests of crows, herons and other large birds. When breeding on the ground, the nest is a depression in the ground or grass, abundantly lined with fluff along the edges. In dry places it is even and deep, only slightly lined with soft and dry grass. The mallard deepens the fossa with its beak and straightens it with its chest, spinning in one place for a long time. The material for the lining is far from being carried, but for the most part it takes that which can be reached with the beak without leaving the nest. In damp and humid places, the mallard first builds a large heap of grass, reeds, etc., and already creates a nesting hole in it. The diameter of the nest is 200-290 mm, the height of the sides above the ground is 40-140 mm, the diameter of the tray is 150-200 mm, the depth of the tray is 40-130 mm.
The male, as a rule, does not take part in the arrangement of the nest, but can accompany the female to the nest, when she goes to lay the next egg. The first eggs are laid in an unfinished nest, and as the clutch grows, the female adds a new portion of fluff to it, which she pulls out from her breast. The down is laid on the periphery of the nesting tray, in a ring, forming a kind of sides, covering the incubating bird on the sides. Leaving the nest, the female covers the eggs with down, which contributes to the retention of heat during her absence.
The laying of eggs in mallards begins very early: depending on the range, in early April - May. The timing of the onset of oviposition in mallards in the north and south of their habitat differs significantly less than the timing of bird arrival in the same areas. In the first period of incubation, the female leaves the nest for feeding and resting in the morning and in the evening, but towards the end of incubation she leaves the nest reluctantly even in case of danger, lets the person close and flies out from under her feet; According to some observations, the secretion of the secretion of the coccygeal gland stops in the incubating female. This is of great importance for the preservation of the clutch, since the pores of the shell can become clogged from constant contact with the feather, abundantly greased with fat, and the gas exchange of the egg will be disrupted. In addition, the secret of the gland has a strong odor that can attract predators.
A large number of mallard clutches perish as a result of the destruction of nests by predators. The most significant damage is done by foxes and raccoon dogs, crows and swamp harriers. In the floodplains of rivers and along the banks of reservoirs, nests often perish from sudden flooding.
Females that have lost their clutch before the start of incubation usually continue to lay eggs, carrying them to one of the nearby duck nests, sometimes to the nests of other birds, for example, a pheasant. If the clutch is lost, the mallard can build a new nest and lay eggs again, however, as a rule, the repeated clutch is less than the original.
Eggs
Oviposition from mid-April to mid-May. The female lays one egg per day, usually in the evening. Incubation begins with the last egg, when the first ones laid have a well-discernible embryonic disc. As a rule, the number of eggs in a nest varies from 9 to 13. There are frequent cases of being thrown up by ducks nesting in the vicinity, as a result of which the clutches become very large - up to 16 eggs or more. Such nests quickly become ownerless and the brood dies. The eggs are of a standard shape, with a white shell with a greenish-olive shade. During incubation, the shade usually disappears. Eggs from the same clutch are similar in size and color, but different clutches can be very different from one another, both in size and in the shape of the eggs. Egg sizes: 49-67? 34-46 mm. The weight of non-incubated eggs is about 46 g (40-52 g).
The incubation time is 22-29 days, on average - 28 days. All chicks hatch almost simultaneously - for no more than 10, less often - 14 hours. The eggs laid by the last ones go through their development cycle in a shorter time than the previous ones.
Chicks
The color of the downy chick on the back is dark olive, with two pairs of yellowish-white spots in the back of the wing and on both sides of the loin. The belly is gray-yellow, which then acquires a yellow-yellow tones. The cheeks are rather reddish. A dark narrow strip runs from the top of the beak through the eye to the back of the head; there is a dark spot in the ear area. The paws and beak are olive-gray, the latter with a pinkish marigold. Fledging young birds are very similar to the adult female, but have indistinct spots that form longitudinal stripes along the body. Males are distinguished by the presence of a wavy pattern on some coverts of the secondary flight feathers in the area of the elbow bend, in females in this place there are irregular or transverse brownish spots or stripes.
The weight of the newly hatched chicks varies from 25 to 38 g. The chicks dry out for two to three hours. The brood leaves the nest approximately 12-16 hours after the first chick hatches. By this time, the chicks are already able to move on land, swim and dive. Chicks dive well and constantly use this technique, fleeing predators.
During the day, ducklings gather under bushes or in thickets of vegetation on the shore, sometimes at a distance of up to 50 m from the water. Young chicks often bask near the female under her wings and fluffy breast plumage. In the first days after hatching, they spend time with their mother at least once every two hours.
Chicks feed on their own. At first, they feed only on small insects and spiders, not paying attention to stationary objects. At the same time, they peck food mainly from plants or from each other, and only later begin to collect it from the surface of the earth and from the water. The food of chicks for 83.4% consists of animal feed, of which 35% by volume are dragonfly larvae that crawl out on the surface of plants, 8% are mollusks and 15% are planktonic crustaceans.
At first, the chicks are active only during the daytime, then they begin to feed in the evening. Chicks switch completely to the evening feeding regime when corneous plates on their beak develop and they acquire the ability to get food for themselves by straining.
From the very first days the chicks recognize each other and drive off the chicks that join them from other broods. The female does the same. The voice of downy chicks is a high-pitched and sonorous squeak: females emit two-syllable whistles, males one-syllable. At about five weeks of age, females begin to quack. Chicks grow quickly - at the age of 10 days they weigh about 100 g, 20 days - 320 g, 30 days - 550-600 g, by 60 days - about 800-900 g.
Approximately on the 23rd day of life, the chick begins to develop contour and primary feathers. For 28 days, the chest and belly are already covered with feathers, and after another 10 days, only the back of the neck, part of the back and sides of the body, covered with wings, remain unfeathered. At about 50 days of age, the chicks begin to take off, and by 56-60 days they fully stand on the wing.
Chicks stay with the female for 7-8 weeks. By this time, many broods have already disintegrated or united in autumn flocks.
Natural enemies
A large number of mallard eggs die as a result of predators ravaging the nests. The most significant damage is done by foxes and raccoon dogs, crows and marsh harrier.
Adult birds and ducklings are hunted by birds of prey: gray crow, goshawk, white-tailed eagle, marsh harrier, large gulls, falcons, eagles, owls, magpies, as well as predators - foxes, raccoon dogs, wild cats, otters, minks, skunk, martens, as well as reptiles and even large fish.
Mallard and man
Economic value
In most of its range, the mallard is one of the main objects of sports, and in some places - commercial hunting. The net weight of the mallard meat carcass is 69% of the live weight of the drake and 65% of the duck, which is 835 and 730 g for the fishing period.
Visiting fields of wheat, rye, oats, millet, rice crops in autumn, they often cause significant damage to them in areas located near water bodies. Along with this, they are beneficial, destroying orthoptera pests and massive consumption of weed seeds.
Hunting
In modern conditions, the mallard is one of the main and popular objects of sports and commercial hunting. The latter refers to the area of the lacustrine forest-steppe, the deltas of the southern rivers and wintering areas. Its share in relation to other types of wild game is more than 50%.
Hunting for mallards is allowed in summer and autumn - usually from the dawn of the second (third) Saturday of August, in the southern regions a little later, and in the spring season - on drakes, for a period of no more than 15 calendar days. In the summer-autumn season, hunting with dogs that have a certificate of origin may be allowed 2-3 weeks before the general opening date of the season. On the territory of Russia, the rules and timing of hunting are established separately in each republic, territory, region on the basis of the Model Rules for hunting in Russian Federation... Summer-autumn hunting is the most widespread and most widespread.
Hunting with dogs... For hunting ducks, dogs of various breeds are often used: spaniels, huskies, hounds, English cops, Scottish setters. Duck hunting with a dog takes place mainly in the mornings and evenings. Trying to keep upwind, the hunter walks along the shore of the reservoir or through the thickets of aquatic vegetation, and the dog, searching overgrown places ahead, raises the ducks on the wing. The spaniel, when the duck takes off, gives a voice, warning the owner. After the shot and the fall of the duck, the dog searches for the killed bird or catches the killed one, and brings the prey to the owner.
Approach hunting... If the hunter is without a dog, he can often use the approach hunting method. In this case, the hunter independently scares away the lurking ducks, raising them on the wing, and shoots at them.
Hunting with decoys, stuffed animals and profiles... It usually begins in early autumn and occurs mainly in the morning and evening dawns. In this type of hunting, stuffed animals or profiles of ducks are planted on the water, often together with a decoy duck, which attracts the attention of wild ducks with its cry. Often when hunting with stuffed animals and decoys, hunters have various decoys with them in order to lure flying ducks if the decoys are silent.
Fly Hunting... This hunting method is shooting ducks during the autumn flight. It usually starts at the end of September and lasts until the first days of November. On the flight paths, huts and skradki are built, stuffed animals and decoy ducks are planted, many hunters shoot ducks from an ambush, from an approach, on a boat.
Domestication
The wild mallard is the ancestor of various breeds of ducks, from which most modern breeds of domestic ducks were bred through selection, in addition to those that were bred from the muscovy duck.
The timing of the initial domestication of the mallard and the start of domestic breeding are unknown. Ducks have been bred in China since time immemorial; they were also bred by the ancient Greeks and Romans. And today, many domestic breeds have retained the color of the plumage of wild mallards.
There are observations that after the third generation in mallards reared in captivity, some changes characteristic of the domestic duck become noticeable - an increase in body size, awkwardness of gait, a change in the color of some flight feathers, an expansion of the white collar in a drake, etc. at present, the breeds of domestic ducks do not differ significantly from the mallard in terms of anatomical features and can interbreed with each other, giving fertile offspring. Wild mallards are very easy to domesticate even now. It is not uncommon for wild drakes to live in pairs with domestic decoy ducks.
Mallard in winter Mallard in December; Mallard in January; Mallard in February; Mallard in spring Mallard in March; Mallard in April; Mallard in May; Mallard in summer mallard