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Thursday 2 January 2014

Diving Mallards.?

Mallards are normally known as Dabbling Ducks, but they do dive occasionally if the food is available.
The other day I was watching some Mallards from a bridge and they were diving in some 2 metres of water. They would mingle around (Male and Female) and suddenly make a considerable splash as they dived forcefully down to the bottom. 




This went on for some time and after every third or fourth dive they would shake the water from their wings and then continue to dive.




I noticed that on most occasions after surfacing they would be eating something they had collected from the bottom. It appeared to be some form of Molluscs (small shells) and as you can see from the images below some where stuck together.



As a result of shaking the water from their wings this provides an opportunity to view the colourful iridescent speculum feathers on their wings.



The Mallard is one of the most widely distributed species of Duck across much of the World.
It exists in a wide range of habitat and climate and eats a wide variety of food.


27 comments:

  1. Great coloures, a duck that is often over looked...

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  2. Nice pics Roy, I love that blue colour of the speculum on Mallards and these photos shows it really well :-) Also interesting behaviour as regards the diving.

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  3. OH !
    It's the first time that I see the Mallard dive ! it's exceptional !
    And greats photos, bravo

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  4. Roy wat geweldig mooi om zo met z,on prachtige serie te kunnen beginnen.

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  5. FABULOUS photos Roy; what fun to observe and get your shots!

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  6. Hello Roy!Looking at these great pics, I wonder who had the most fun???
    The duck with his bath or you behind your camera?!
    Happy New Year and all the best!

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  7. Lovely photos of the wing colouring.

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  8. Great post, Roy. Love the 4th photo especially with the mallard's wings expanded showing the amazing blue color! Happy New Year!

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  9. Hey Roy... Great action shot's of one of my favorite ducks!!
    Love the first dive and those wing display, oh that blue!!

    Grace

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  10. Wonderful water effects! Happy New Year:)

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  11. Happy New Year, Roy!

    I have a blog friend that posted on diving dabblers last November. http://tailsofbirding.blogspot.com/2013/11/diving-dabbler.html A week before he posted this, I saw an American Black Duck diving which took me by surprise, too.

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    Replies
    1. Happy New Year Steve, Yes I have never seen that before. I will check that link out.

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  12. happy new year Roy.

    I love Mallards..... such colourful chaps the males. if they were rare they'd be more appreciated. saw a pair mate just before new years day!

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  13. Those are great shots! I have never seen them dive before. They did look nice and clean and shiny!

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  14. Wonderful details of both the birds and the water! Love the back shots of the males with the pretty blue feathers showing so nicely! Well done!

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  15. I actually never knew that a wild duck went diving! So deep
    Beautifully recorded and especially the pictures which he spreads its wings.

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  16. Mallard - the drakes anyway - are lovely birds especially those gorgeous iridescent green heads. Don't recall seeing them dive though, great photos. Happy New Year by the way:)

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