Throughout northern hemisphere T he mallard is a typical dabbling duck, often feeding tail-up in shallow water.
Female mallards have plain brownish plumage, with distinctive blue feathers on the wings.
Pair bonds are renewed each year with a prolonged period of intricate social displays, including the ritualized preening of the bright wing patches. The female lays her 8 to 10 eggs in a nest on the ground. Her mate deserts her early in the incubation period and flies off to undergo his annual molt with the other males. The mallard is the ancestor of all domestic ducks except muscovies. The Evergreen Project, Inc.