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An American black duck (upper left) and a male mallard (lower right) in eclipse plumage [25]: 506 Two months after hatching, the fledgling period has ended, and the duckling is now a juvenile. [34] The duckling is able to fly 50–60 days after hatching.
The female is light brown, with plumage much like a female mallard. It can be distinguished from that species by the dark orange-edged bill, smaller size, the white speculum, and white belly. [12] Both sexes go through two moults annually, following a juvenile moult. [10] The gadwall is a quieter duck, except during its courtship display.
Mandarin duck (male) in eclipse plumage. Many male ducks have bright, colourful plumage, exhibiting strong sexual dimorphism. However, they moult into a dull plumage after breeding in mid-summer. This drab, female-like appearance is called eclipse plumage. When they shed feathers to go into an eclipse, the ducks become flightless for a short ...
A duckling is a young duck in downy plumage [1] or baby duck, [2] but in the food trade a young domestic duck which has just reached adult size and bulk and its meat is still fully tender, is sometimes labelled as a duckling. A male is called a drake and the female is called a duck, or in ornithology a hen. [3] [4] Male mallard. Wood ducks.
In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake pintail looks similar to the female, but retains the male upperwing pattern and long grey shoulder feathers. Juvenile birds resemble the female, but are less neatly scalloped and have a duller brown speculum with a narrower trailing edge. [14] The pintail walks well on land, and swims well. [8]
This is supported by the observation that in mallard × American black duck hybrids, females of both taxa prefer the sexually dimorphic mallard drakes over the dull-plumaged black duck drakes; [23] [24] that the green-winged teal is in some aspects—such as the less contrasting nuptial plumage—intermediate between the common and speckled ...
A male mallard. The speculum feathers are bright blue with white edges. The speculum is a patch, often distinctly coloured, on the secondary wing feathers, or remiges, of some birds. Examples of the colour(s) of the speculum in a number of ducks are: Common teal and green-winged teal: Iridescent green edged with buff. [1]
Both the male and female have calls similar to the mallard, with females producing a loud quack, and males a deeper, quieter sound. The eastern spot-billed duck is darker and browner than the Indian spot-billed duck; its body plumage is more similar to the Pacific black duck. It lacks the red bill spot, and has a blue speculum. [14] [15]