Mallard

The Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) is the most iconic wild duck found in North America and, truthfully, throughout nearly the entire northern hemisphere. A large puddle duck, their luminous mallard-green heads are definitive. “Greenhead” even colloquially refers to either drakes, or drakes and hens both! Drakes also have the recognizable white collar directly under their green head and display the classic black-tail curl. Mallards have gray-brown wings with bright blue speculums, double white wing bars, with the top white wing bar extending into hen’s tertials.  Non-breeding males have similar plumage to the females, but still have the bright yellow bill that breeding males display, while hens have an orange bill that increasingly mottle in adulthood. Hen vocalizations are the quacking gold standard of the duck hunting world. drakes make a quiet rasping buzz.