Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
Learn more about these drawings.
Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
Photo: Jukka Jantunen/Vireo
Anas crecca
Conservation status | Very common and widespread. |
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Family | Ducks and Geese |
Habitat | Marshes, rivers, bays. In summer, open country near shallow freshwater lakes and marshes. In migration and winter, found on coastal estuaries and tidal marshes, also on shallow lakes and ponds inland, seeming to prefer those with much standing or floating vegetation. |
Forages by wading or swimming in very shallow water while filtering mud with bill, up-ending, or picking items from water's surface. May feed by night or day.
6-11, rarely up to 15 or 18. Cream to pale buff. Incubation is by female only, 20-24 days, usually 21. Young: leave nest a few hours after hatching. Female cares for ducklings, which may return to the nest for the first few nights; young find all their own food. Young fledge at about 35 days.
leave nest a few hours after hatching. Female cares for ducklings, which may return to the nest for the first few nights; young find all their own food. Young fledge at about 35 days.
Mostly plant material. Diet quite variable with season and location. Feeds especially on seeds of grasses, sedges, pondweeds, many others. Also takes aquatic insects, crustaceans, mollusks, tadpoles; rarely earthworms, fish eggs. May feed more on animal matter in summer, seeds in winter.
Pairs usually arrive already mated on breeding grounds. In one courtship display, male rears up out of water, arching head forward and downward to shake bill very rapidly in water while giving a sharp whistle. Nest site is usually among grasses and weeds of meadow, sometimes in open woodland or brush, within 200' of water. Well hidden by surrounding grasses or shrubs, which often form complete canopy. Nest (built by female) is a shallow depression filled with grasses, twigs, and leaves, lined with down.
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