Females have mottled brown feathers, a whitish tail, an orange-patched bill, and orange feet. Both sexes have violet bars on their wings, which are visible only in flight. Nests are hidden in tall herbaceous vegetation near water.
Eggs are greenish-gray to brown and laid on the ground.
Throughout most of North America. Winters in southern North America and Central America. They are sometimes poisoned by lead shotgun pellets that have settled to the bottoms of ponds and bays. You might hear a mallard called a dabbling duck because it feeds from the water's surface by tipping its tail up and head down into the water. However, mallards do not dive to feed.