Mallard Nest
Common Name: Mallard, Mallard Duck
Scientific Name: Anas platyrhynchos
Mallards can nest in many unusual locations, including planter baskets, flower beds or brush piles, even close to human habitation. Regardless of the location, however, a mallard's nest is typically well concealed in brush or plants, and it is lined with down the female will pluck from her own breast. Other nesting materials include leaves, sticks, grasses and twigs.
On rare occasions, mallards may nest above the ground on roofs, ledges or in hollow trees, but most mallard nests are at ground level and near water.
A typical nest will contain 4-15 eggs, but some mallard hens have been observed laying eggs in other hens' nests, resulting in even larger broods. The incubation period is 25-30 days, and the hen does the majority of the incubation.
Photo © Michelle Tribe
Scientific Name: Anas platyrhynchos
Mallards can nest in many unusual locations, including planter baskets, flower beds or brush piles, even close to human habitation. Regardless of the location, however, a mallard's nest is typically well concealed in brush or plants, and it is lined with down the female will pluck from her own breast. Other nesting materials include leaves, sticks, grasses and twigs.
On rare occasions, mallards may nest above the ground on roofs, ledges or in hollow trees, but most mallard nests are at ground level and near water.
A typical nest will contain 4-15 eggs, but some mallard hens have been observed laying eggs in other hens' nests, resulting in even larger broods. The incubation period is 25-30 days, and the hen does the majority of the incubation.
Photo © Michelle Tribe
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