Species: Anas platyrhynchos

Mallard

Species

Birds

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Salish Sea-reliant birds

Terrestrial vertebrates: birds

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Anseriformes

Family

Anatidae

Genus

Anas

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.105213

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Pato de Collar - canard colvert

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Waterfowl

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Anseriformes - Anatidae - Anas - . Mitochondrial DNA data indicate an extremely close evolutionary relationship between mallards and black ducks, and, in conjunction with geographic distributions, suggest that the black duck is a recent evolutionary derivative of a more broadly distributed mallard-black duck ancestor (Avise et al. 1990). See Livezey (1991) for a phylogenetic analysis and classification (supergenera, subgenera, infragenera, etc.) of dabbling ducks based on comparative morphology. See Byers and Cary (1991) for information on morphological differences among wild, urban, and game-farm mallards.

Ecology and Life History

Migration

true - true - true - Makes postbreeding migration to molting area; females that nested in Suisun Marsh, California, began leaving in late May, 50% had departed by mid-June, and nearly all had departed by mid-July; migrated mainly northward to areas in California and south-central Oregon, 12-536 km from nesting sites; exhibited fidelity to molting area (Yarris et al. 1994).

Non-migrant

true

Locally Migrant

true

Food Comments

Eats seeds, rootlets, and tubers of aquatic plants, seeds of swamp and river bottom trees, acorns, cultivated grains, insects, mollusks, amphibians, small fishes, fish eggs; adults eat mostly vegetable material, young initially eat mainly invertebrates. Foraging opportunities optimal where water depth less than 40 cm. See Allen (1986) for further details on diet.

Reproduction Comments

Clutch size is 5-14 (usually 8-10). Incubation, by female, lasts 26-30 days. Young first fly at 49-60 days. First breeds at 1 year. May attain high nesting density (up to at least about 400 nests/ha) on islands free of mammalian predators.

Ecology Comments

Breeding density (2.3-9.5 birds per sq km) fluctuates with pond abundance in prairie pothole region (Krapu et al. 1983). In Manitoba, nesting home range size averaged 283 hectares (Dzubin 1955). Average breeding home ranges of radio-tagged birds in Minnesota were 210 hectares (12 females) and 240 hectares (12 males); range 66 hectares to 760 hectares (a pair, Gilmer et al. 1975). <br><br>In winter, may fly up to 48 to 64 kilometers to forage from roost sites. Does not defend rigid territories, but area immediately surrounding the female usually defended by the male. Broods susceptible to mink predation. Resident birds have higher reproduction whereas migrants have higher survival (Hestbeck et al. 1992). <br><br>May be negatively impacting black duck populations in eastern North America as a result of competitive interactions (Merendino and Ankney 1994).

Length

Weight

1082

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-11-21

Global Status Last Changed

1996-11-21

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDS: Alaska, Mackenzie Delta, southern Keewatin, and Maine south to southern California, Mexico, Oklahoma, and Virginia. Has expanded range in eastern North America (especially in the north) in recent decades (see Heusmann 1991 for a detailed account of status in the Atlantic Flyway). WINTERS: southern Alaska and southern Canada to southern U.S., Mexico, Cuba, occasionally Hawaii (AOU 1983). Half or more of the Mississippi Flyway's 3.2 million mallards winter in the lower Mississippi Valley, from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to the Gulf of Mexico. Also occurs in the Palearctic. Many semiferal populations exist. Availablity of grain allows wintering north of pre-settlement range; now rare in Central America.

Global Range Code

Global Range Description

>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.105213