Feeding Behavior

Versatile in foraging. Flocks often feed on land; feed in shallow water, taking items from surface or submerging head and neck; also associates with diving birds on deeper water, robbing them of their food when they come to the surface. May feed by day or night.

Eggs

8-11, sometimes 5-12. Whitish. Incubation is by female only, 23-24 days. Male usually departs before eggs hatch. Young: Leave nest shortly after hatching, feed themselves. Female remains with brood for much of their pre-flight stage. Young capable of flight 45-63 days after hatching.

Young

Leave nest shortly after hatching, feed themselves. Female remains with brood for much of their pre-flight stage. Young capable of flight 45-63 days after hatching.

Diet

Mostly plant material. Eats aquatic plants such as pondweeds, sedges, wild celery, eelgrass, algae. Also eats some insects and snails. On land, grazes on young grass shoots, and consumes seeds and waste grains. Very young ducklings eat many insects.

Nesting

Pair formation begins on wintering grounds; most older birds paired before spring migration. Several males often court one female. In one display, male extends neck forward with head low, bill open, while raising tips of folded wings, revealing white wing patches. Tends to begin nesting later in season than most dabblers. Nest site on dry land, sometimes on island, usually within 100' of water but sometimes up to 1/2 mile away; site concealed by tall vegetation. Nest (built by female) is shallow depression filled with grasses and weeds, lined with down.