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Mallard duck (female and male)
Anas platyrhynchos
42.9634, -85.6681
Field Notes
Description:
The mallard is familiar duck in Michigan (and many other places) and has a male with a showy green neck band and a female that is a mute brown pattern.
Habitat:
The Mallard is widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere, North America from southern and central Alaska to Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands, and across Eurasia, from Iceland and southern Greenland and parts of Morocco (North Africa) in the west, Scandinavia to the north, and to Siberia, Japan, and China in the east.[8] It is strongly migratory in the northern parts of its breeding range, and winters farther south. For example, in North America it winters south to Mexico, but also regularly strays into Central America and the Caribbean between September and May.[15]
The Mallard inhabits a wide range of habitat and climates, from Arctic Tundra to subtropical regions. It is found in both fresh- and salt water wetlands, including parks, small ponds, rivers, lakes and estuaries, as well as shallow inlets and open sea within sight of the coastline. Water depths of less than 1 metre (3.3 ft) are preferred, birds avoiding areas more than a few metres deep. They are attracted to bodies of water with aquatic vegetation.[13] --- Wikipedia
Notes:
These guys spent weeks hanging out on my pool that was closed for the winter. I tried to tell my husband that he didn't really want them there. They didn't seem phased by us or our dogs. I think if we had let them, they would have raised a family there. There seemed to be a set of two males and one female that hung out most frequently. We eventually were forced to encourage them to fly and find another location. After we got closer (the pool is surrounded by a deck) they eventually flew away.
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