Looking for a flash of color in a monochromatic winter? Take a good look at a male (drake) mallard–when he’s facing the sun, the feathers on his head glow emerald green. City ornithologist Juliet Berger says mallards “are one of the most widespread ducks around the world.” In Michigan alone, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates the breeding population at 278,000, up by 17 percent from last year.
Although mallards are a migrating species, we still have some with us through the winter. Berger says our winter population is a mix of southward-moving migrants and local residents who stay throughout the year.
They’re so common that these ducks are often ignored by folks looking for something more exotic. But especially in fall and winter, their beauty shines. With foliage scarce and snow and ice providing a clean backdrop, their fresh nuptial plumage is intimately visible. Just try to catch them facing the sun: when they’re backlit, they look much darker and duller, without the vivid color shown in these images.
Color in birds–as we perceive it–is created in two ways. Some is due to pigment–chemical compounds. The other type, called structural color, is the result of physics: an interplay involving light and the physical structure of certain types of feathers. In the right light and from the right angle, it creates the male’s iridescent green head.
According to Berger, mallards here molt from late July into August. They are flightless for three or four weeks, a time when they hide in bushes and have dull camouflage feathers. But come fall, the birds are back in mating plumage. They will court during the winter, with the female building a nest and incubating eggs in the spring.
You know those charming family pictures of swimming swans, one parent in front, the other bringing up the rear, and the kids strung out in a line in between? Never happens with mallards. The males take off after eggs are laid and keep company with other males.
In winter, Berger reports, you can usually find mallards at Gallup Park if there is open water. We have also seen wintering mallards in the river below Barton Dam when most everything else is frozen. In warmer seasons, they may be found in or near any relatively calm body of water: Over the years, we have seen mallards marching around the back of Briarwood Mall and parading through Ann Arbor Hills. Jorja recently saw some trying to cross Ann Arbor-Saline Rd. near Oak Valley Dr.
Finally, if you didn’t know it (and we didn’t), ornithologist Berger says: “Almost all of the domestic breeds of ducks around the world are derived from wild mallards.” These are birds without borders.
