How to Identify a Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

• Head pattern: Male: green head that contrasts with yellow bill, white neck ring, reddish chest, gray body
• Head pattern: Female: mottled brown, with black smudges on orange bill
• Wing patch (speculum): Male and Female: iridescent blue speculum with upper and lower white margins, and white underwing coverts
• Bill: Male: bill is yellow to olive; legs and feet orange in breeding plumage
• Body pattern: Male: chestnut-brown breast, brownish-gray back, narrow white neck ring

Female Mallard is paler mottled brown with an orange bill with black smudges and a blue speculum with white borders; American Black Duck is much darker overall with a gray head and a dark purple speculum lacking bold white edges The American Black Duck page lists its own marks.

Female Mallard has superficial resemblance to Mottled Duck, but Mottled Duck is darker brown overall with an iridescent blue-green (not blue) speculum

Marshes, wooded swamps, grain fields, ponds, rivers, lakes, bays, city parks Occurs year-round across North America; most individuals migratory, breeding in northern US/Canada and wintering in southern US and Mexico

Nests on the ground in grasslands; broods may travel long distances between the nest and wetlands after hatching

Shoot from water level if you can, with the sun behind you, so head pattern and the wing patch show their true colors. Get one frame with the bird side-on and one as it stretches or flaps, which exposes the speculum and belly. Note who it is swimming with; ducks flock by species. The app names the likely species; confirm with the marks above, and check the female separately, since females of many ducks look alike.