Dabbling Duck

dabbling duck, also called dipping, surface-feeding, pond, river, or freshwater duck, any of about 38 species of Anas and about 5 species in other genera, constituting the tribe Anatini, subfamily Anatinae, family Anatidae (order Anseriformes). They feed mainly on water plants, which they obtain by tipping-up in shallows—uncommonly by diving (with opened wings); they often forage near the shore for seeds and insects. The bill is flat and broad, the hindtoe unlobed. Dabbling ducks float high in the water and are swift fliers, leaping upward on noisy wings before attaining level flight, usually in compact flocks.

Occurring worldwide, chiefly on inland waters, dabbling ducks are most common in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere and are strongly migratory. Males typically have bold plumage patterns except during the postbreeding flightless period, when they resemble the drab females. Hens tend to be slightly smaller than drakes and usually are more vocal—quacking frequently and loudly. The nest, a grass-lined hollow in thick cover by the waterside, usually is blanketed with down from the hen’s breast. She may lay in more than one nest—of her own kind or of another species. The hen takes charge of incubating the single clutch of 6–12 eggs for 20–25 days, and she alone rears and protects the downy ducklings. Young birds can fly in about two weeks, and they mature in their first year.

The tribe includes some of the world’s finest game birds: the black duck (Anas rubripes), much sought after by hunters; the mallard; the gadwall (Anas strepera); the garganey (A. querquedula); the pintail (A. acuta), perhaps the world’s most abundant waterfowl; the shoveler (Anas, or Spatula, clypeata), the “spoonbill” of hunters; the teals, races of Anas crecca and other species; the wigeons, Anas, or Mareca, americana and A., or M., penelope.