Photo: Mallard Duck

A Mallard Duck stops and stands at alert to check out the surroundings in the field in Ngakuta Bay on the South Island of New Zealand.

The Mallard Duck is an interesting species of the bird family which resides around North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The Mallard stays close to its breeding grounds until winter begins to approach, then it heads farther south. When you tour the South Island you will find the Mallard Duck has become the most common type of bird found in New Zealand.

A male Mallard that is a breeder has the green colored head, a black behind, a blue patch of plumage on their wings and a yellow bill. The female duck has light brown plumage with no distinct markings so the two are not hard to tell apart except that a drake which does not breed can also look the same as the female.

The Mallard Duck grows to be a maximum of about sixty-five centimeters in length and weighs in at about 750 - 1000 grams. They usually prefer the wetland areas as the aquatic invertebrates seem to produce there and that is what the Mallard Duck feeds on. ... continue below the picture...

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This male Mallard is strolling peacefully along the lush green grass in Ngakuta Bay in the Queen Charlotte Sound on the South Island of New Zealand. He stops to pose for the photographers as he journeys across this grassland.

Mallard Duck, Anas platyrhynchos, in Ngakuta Bay, Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough, Marlborough Sounds, South Island, New Zealand