On a warm Monday afternoon, the city parks of Colorado Springs offer a quiet escape. While spending some downtime near the water with Jeannette and our kids—Raelene, Leonard, Jazmine, Quinn, and Willow—it’s easy to overlook one of the most common, yet vital, residents of our urban waterways: the Mallard duck. These birds represent a complex balance of wildlife adapting to a growing city.

The Biology of the Dabbling Duck

Watching the flock paddle near the shore, the kids naturally asked the most common question: which ones are the males, and which ones are the females?

That simple question highlights one of the most fascinating aspects of the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). The stark visual difference between the sexes—known as sexual dimorphism—serves a distinct evolutionary purpose. The male’s striking green head and chestnut chest are designed to attract mates during the breeding season, while the female’s mottled brown plumage provides essential camouflage while nesting in the tall grasses along the water’s edge.

If you observe these ducks during the fall or winter, you might catch sight of their elaborate courtship rituals. Mallards perform highly ritualized behaviors to attract a mate, including rhythmic head-pumping where both males and females bob their heads up and down in unison. Males may also perform a “grunt-whistle” display, rising out of the water to pull their heads up, whistle, and then grunt as they settle back down. Another common sight is the “head-up-tail-up” gesture, where a male pulls his wings and tail up to compress his body, showing off his colorful secondary feathers to impress a watching female.

Once mating is successful, the hens produce broods of ducklings. Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures of the ducklings during our visit, but they are an incredible sight. Ducklings hatch covered in fuzzy down. They are a precocial species, meaning they are capable of walking, swimming, and feeding themselves almost immediately. Typically within a single day of hatching, the hen will lead her new young away from the nest and straight to the water, where they will begin foraging primarily for aquatic insects.

Unlike diving ducks, adult Mallards are “dabblers.” They feed by tipping forward in the water to graze on aquatic plants, insects, and snails just below the surface, which makes the shallow ponds of our local parks an ideal habitat. While many waterfowl migrate, the stable food sources and open waters found in city parks encourage year-round residential populations along the Front Range.

The Urban-Wildlife Interface

Though throwing bread to the ducks is a time-honored park tradition, wildlife experts strongly advise against it. Bread offers zero nutritional value for waterfowl and can lead to a severe, permanent bone deformity known as “angel wing,” which prevents them from flying. Furthermore, decaying bread and concentrated bird waste in small park ponds fuel algae blooms that degrade the water quality for all aquatic life. Instead, CPW encourages simply observing these birds as they forage naturally. If park-goers do choose to offer food, small amounts of cracked corn, oats, or thawed frozen peas are significantly healthier alternatives.