Today's sunrise.
Just after I shot these photos the fog came in. If you look carefully you can see the beginning.The Assawoman Bay and Walkers Pond. Beautiful!
ALL ABOUT MALLARDS
General Information:
Behavior varies seasonally with mallards. In our region, the pattern can generally be described as follows:
August to September
At this time, both males and females have recently developed new wing feathers, which they grow every year, and they are able to fly well again. They have also rejuvenated their body feathers, which are replaced twice a year, but in this case, the males are transformed into distinctly different animals, by virtue of their colorful breeding plumage. Their heads are covered with iridescent green, and a white ring forms around their necks.
Once adults have completed this molting process, they begin renewing their fat reserves depleted by the summer's breeding, nesting, and molting. Courting begins and some early pairs may be formed. The flight formations of family units become more organized, with fall quickly approaching.
Meanwhile, juvenile males reach sexual maturity as early as September and they begin molting into their bright adult breeding plumage. Both juveniles and adults begin courting rituals. The autumn congregation of mallards into larger groups is referred to as "staging." Larger marshy areas may become temporary homes to tens of thousands of mallards before migration occurs.
October to November
Pairing begins in earnest. The drakes (males) perform communal displays while swimming, and the hens watch from the periphery. The male repertoire includes tail wagging, head flicking, and dipping his bill tip in water, then flicking his head and bill to produce a fine spray of water droplets. This is followed by a simultaneous lifting of his front and rear end out of the water known as the "head-up tail-up" display, where the drake shows his colorful metallic green head and curled undertail. The drakes then begin to swim closer to the hens, trying to attract their attention and lead them away. The males lower their heads and necks or hold them erect, bill pointing away from the hens so as not to threaten them. Often a male will sleek down the feathers on the back of their head, producing a noticeable dark patch against the glossy green coloring. If all of this fails to impress, males may shake their heads from side to side or even jump out of the water.
The pairing decision is up to the hen, and her chosen mate will remain with her throughout the winter and the breeding season. However, the early stages of pairing are marked by some confusion and indecision on the part of males. For example, "three bird flights" are common, in which a drake will temporarily abandon his mate in pursuit of another hen. The pursued hen performs an "inciting movement" by turning her head sideways and jabbing her bill backwards along her flank or breast, trying to deter the aggressor, and attract her mate to her defense. Often the intruder flies in from behind the hen causing her to take flight with her mate then taking flight after the intruder. Most attempts to break apart pairs are unsuccessful. However, in the process, a hen might be chased by as many as twelve or more drakes, and she may drown in the melee. Researchers believe that such events are responsible for unbalanced sex ratios among adult mallards.
December to March
Just as the mallard's hardiness makes it one of the first northward migrants in the spring, in the fall it lingers longer on its nesting and staging area than most any other duck. As long as mallards have food and open water, they can withstand almost any amount of cold and snow. At some point during the winter, most mallards migrate somewhere south. However, many mallards chose to winter over instead of migrating. The previously formed breeding pairs remain intact during winter.
April to May
Courting rituals have already taken place by the time the mallards have reached their nesting grounds. First to arrive are the paired mallards with the unpaired drakes following approximately one week later. Usually a hen returns to the site of her birth, where she selects a "waiting area," quacking repeatedly to keep other hens from locating to closely too her. A nest is built close by, usually during the last three weeks of April. The nest is not elaborate: the hen wriggles her breast into a moist area in the ground, creating a shallow depression. Once the hen selects a nesting area, the pair mates, often several times a day on the surface of the water.
Prior to the act of mating, both birds perform a vertical pumping motion with their heads, followed by the hen flattening herself on the water in the "soliciting position," indicating that she is receptive. After mating, the drake swims around her before they retire to a nearby area to bathe and preen. She then begins to lay eggs within a day or two, usually one per morning, for a total of eight to twelve eggs. The hen does not begin incubating the eggs until all or almost all of the eggs have been laid so that they will all hatch at approximately the same time. During incubation, the drake maintains a "loafing bar" away from the nest where the hen can bathe and preen once or twice a day, protected by her mate. During this time, the drake does not follow the hen back to the nest, where he might attract predators with his colorful breeding plumage.
Eventually, the drake loses interest in the hen and leaves, forming small flocks with other drakes. A possible benefit of this behavior is that breeding hens are spaced throughout the available habitat, so that feeding during incubation can take place without resorting to areas occupied by the loafing drakes. In small water bodies, crowding takes place, resulting in low breeding success and high female mortality. The majority of ducklings hatch within a week or two of Memorial Day, just in time for summer vacation! Coincidentally, this is when the majority of insects also hatch, providing abundant food supplies.
June to July
The fathers of this year's brood leave the hens and head for "molting spots" after completing their nesting responsibilities. They lose the colorful breeding plumage and return to drab brown plumage (eclipse plumage) matching that of the hens. Their body feathers are replaced first, improving their camouflage. Then wing feathers are replaced, leaving them flightless for approximately one month. Meanwhile, after eight weeks of development, ducklings are almost full grown, their weight increased by a factor of thirty. In this brief time, they have developed many of the skills necessary for independence including flight. Once the ducklings fledge, all of the families begin to socialize again, and preparation begins for mating and autumn migration.
