The Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) is the world's most common duck and probably Sweden's most familiar bird, the male's shimmering green-blue head, white neck ring and chestnut-brown breast unmistakable, while the female's rasping quack is heard at almost every lake and stream. Sweden holds an estimated 200,000–400,000 breeding pairs, and the species is seen year-round across the whole country. The male shows a metallic green-blue head, a narrow white neck ring, a chestnut-brown breast, a grey back, a white belly and a whitish-grey tail with a distinctive black curled tail covert, along with a greenish-yellow bill tipped black and orange legs; the female is mottled brown throughout with an orange, dark-blotched bill, while both sexes show a violet-blue speculum edged white in flight. During the summer eclipse period the male resembles the female but keeps his yellow bill and black curled tail feather.
The female's classic "quack-quack-quack" — loud, falling and rasping — serves for alarm and contact calls, while the male gives a quieter, nasal "reb". Found throughout Sweden, from coastal harbours to mountain lakes, the species is largely resident, with numbers boosted in winter by birds from further north and from continental Europe; globally it breeds on every continent except Antarctica and is the ancestor of most domestic duck breeds. It nests April to July, building a shallow, down-lined scrape hidden in dense waterside vegetation, where the female lays 8–13 eggs and incubates alone for 27–28 days; the precocial ducklings leave the nest within a day and fledge after 50–60 days, while the male departs soon after hatching to join bachelor flocks for the summer moult. As a dabbling omnivore it feeds on aquatic insects, crustaceans, worms, frogs and small fish in summer, switching to grain, seeds and aquatic plants through autumn and winter.
Read about this species in Swedish →