You can see their feet wobbling in the air as they tip over. However, gadwalls are known to steal food from diving ducks as the divers reach the surface. You can identify a gadwall by its steep forehead (steeper than a mallard's) and thin bill (thinner than a mallard's). Its feathers are gray and brown, with black tail feathers.
What does a gadwall bird look like?
Color Pattern Male Gadwall are gray-brown with a black patch at the tail. Females are patterned with brown and buff. Females have a thin orange edge to their dark bills. In flight, both sexes have a white wing patch that is sometimes visible while swimming or resting.
What is the difference between male and female gadwalls?
Female gadwalls are similar to males, but have a mottled brown appearance, a yellowish bill with dark spots and a smaller white speculum. Aquatic vegetation makes up the majority of the gadwall's diet. As a result, they are often found feeding far from the shoreline, in deeper water than most other dabbling ducks.
What is the difference between a mallard and gadwall?
In flight, the neck is slightly thinner and the wings slightly more slender than a Mallard’s. Color Pattern Male Gadwall are gray-brown with a black patch at the tail. Females are patterned with brown and buff. Females have a thin orange edge to their dark bills.
How many eggs does a Gadwall Duck lay?
Gadwall tend to begin breeding later than most ducks. Female gadwalls nest in fields and meadows, and on islands and dikes in wetlands, and lay an average of 7-12 eggs. Gadwalls are medium-sized ducks characterized by a general lack of bright coloration. Male gadwalls are gray-brown with a white belly and a black rump.
What type of duck is a Gadwall?
dabbling duckThe gadwall (Mareca strepera) is a common and widespread dabbling duck in the family Anatidae.
What color is a Gadwall?
The Gadwall is sometimes referred to as the "gray duck" because of its seemingly unremarkable overall gray-brown color. However, closer inspection of male Gadwall reveals beautiful vermiculation (wavy black stripes) on their feathers, chestnut and black portions on their wings and a distinctive black rump.
Are Gadwall rare?
Gadwall are common to abundant migrants and winter residents in Texas which has some of the highest wintering concentrations in North America along the coast. These ducks begin arriving in this state as early as late August with most coming in October. They are present until late May.
Where are Gadwall ducks found?
About the Gadwall Gadwall breed near seasonal and semi-permanent wetlands, mainly in the grasslands and mixed Prairie regions of the United States and Canada. Substantial numbers also breed in wetland habitats of the Great Basin.
What does a Gadwall look like?
Male Gadwall are gray-brown with a black patch at the tail. Females are patterned with brown and buff. Females have a thin orange edge to their dark bills. In flight, both sexes have a white wing patch that is sometimes visible while swimming or resting.
Is a Gadwall a puddle duck?
Puddle ducks, also known as dabbler ducks, are ducks that feed primarily in shallow water and that do not dive beneath the water's surface. Mallards, teal, wood ducks, widgeons, gadwalls, pintails, and shovelers are all puddle ducks.
How do I get Gadwall to decoy?
"For instance, when gadwalls don't want to finish and they get to that spot where they've been breaking and going around, hit them with some loud, fast calling. Sometimes this will get them to pitch right into the decoys. Just try anything different if what you've been trying hasn't been working."
How long do Gadwall ducks live?
The oldest known Gadwall was a male, and at least 19 years, 6 months old.
What size are Gadwall?
1.1 – 2.3 lbsGadwall / Mass
What sound does a Gadwall make?
Calls. Male Gadwall make short, deep, reedy calls referred to as “burps,” given in steady succession or 2–5 at a time while flying. They also make high whistles. Females quack rather like Mallards, but with a slightly higher pitch and more nasal quality.
Where do Gadwall migrate from?
They breed from southeastern Alaska to the Great Lakes, south to Texas and California. In winter, they migrate to the southern United States and coastal Mexico, with the largest concentrations along the Gulf Coasts of Louisiana and Texas.
What kind of duck has a black bill?
Cayuga Duck (Anas platyrhynchos cayuga) Almost all the male's feathers are black with a green shade that only becomes more brilliant in the sun. As they age, they might develop white spots across their feathers. Their bills are always black.
What sound does a Gadwall make?
Calls. Male Gadwall make short, deep, reedy calls referred to as “burps,” given in steady succession or 2–5 at a time while flying. They also make high whistles. Females quack rather like Mallards, but with a slightly higher pitch and more nasal quality.
Is a Gadwall a diver?
Feeding Behavior Forages mainly while swimming by taking items from surface or by dabbling with head submerged, sometimes by up-ending, occasionally by diving.
What is the scientific name for a Gadwall?
Mareca streperaGadwall / Scientific name
What do female wood ducks look like?
Females are gray-brown with white-speckled breast. In eclipse plumage (late summer), males lose their pale sides and bold stripes, but retain their bright eye and bill. Juveniles are very similar to females. Unlike most waterfowl, Wood Ducks perch and nest in trees and are comfortable flying through woods.
What to look for
Overall pattern. Fairly plain brown (female) or grayish (male), with strongly contrasting black tail coverts forming black rear end (or “stern”) on male.
The forgotten Gadwall
Migrating or wandering ducks, winding up on remote oceanic islands, have been known to establish distinctive resident populations. In Hawaii, for example, the Hawaiian Duck is clearly descended from Mallard ancestors.
What is a gadwall duck?
Description. Gadwalls are medium-sized ducks characterized by a general lack of bright coloration. Male gadwalls are gray-brown with a white belly and a black rump. In flight, a white speculum and chestnut and black portions on the wing coverts are displayed. The bill is slate-gray and the legs and feet are yellow.
Where do gadwalls breed?
Gadwall breed near seasonal and semi-permanent wetlands, mainly in the grasslands and mixed Prairie regions of the United States and Canada. Substantial numbers also breed in wetland habitats of the Great Basin. Gadwall tend to begin breeding later than most ducks.
How many eggs do gadwalls lay?
Gadwall tend to begin breeding later than most ducks. Female gadwalls nest in fields and meadows, and on islands and dikes in wetlands, and lay an average of 7-12 eggs. Average weight: M 2.0 lbs., F 1.8 lbs.
Where do gadwalls live?
Habitat. Gadwall breed mainly in prairie potholes—small ponds scattered throughout the Great Plains and Canadian prairies. Some also breed on tundra, deltas, and wetlands in boreal forests of the far north. In developed areas with few natural ponds, Gadwall may use stock ponds. They choose well-vegetated wetlands with plenty ...
How do gadwalls communicate?
Gadwall sometimes steal food from American Coots. Like most ducks they often form flocks, and you may see them fidgeting as they swim about each other. These movements are actually a complex series of displays that communicate pair bonds, levels of aggression, and degrees of interest among potential mates. For example, Gadwall may send warnings to each other off by lifting their chin or opening their bill at another bird. A male may seek a female’s attention by ruffling his head feathers, drawing the head close to the body, and then rearing up out of the water and pushing his head forward. Further courtship displays include the male arching his head over his back and then jerking forward while raising his tail and wing coverts; pushing his bill underwater and then quickly tossing water into the air while whistling; and rearing up while raking his bill through the water and whistling. A female may show her interest by arching her head and neck and repeatedly moving it forward and then to the side away from the male. As the pair bond strengthens, the two birds face each other and raise and lower their heads, chins up; or turn their head and place the bill behind the wing, as if preening. Courtship happens in fall and early winter; virtually all females find mates by November. Gadwall are seasonally monogamous. Predators of eggs and young include California and Ring-billed gulls, Northern Harriers, foxes, weasels, mink, coyotes, and badgers. Back to top
What percentage of the Gadwall diet is animal matter?
During the breeding season, animal matter can account for nearly 50 percent of an adult Gadwall’s diet, but this proportion drops to only about 5 percent animal matter during winter. Back to top. Gadwall pairs form during fall migration.
What are the predators of Gadwall?
Predators of eggs and young include California and Ring-billed gulls, Northern Harriers, foxes, weasels, mink, coyotes, and badgers. Back to top. Conservation. Gadwall populations increased by over 2.5 percent per year between 1966 and 2010, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey.
Where is the State of the Birds report?
North American Bird Conservation Initiative. (2014). The State of the Birds 2014 Report. US Department of Interior, Washington, DC, USA.
