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American Black Duck

American Black Duck

Anas rubripes

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The American Black Duck is a large, dark dabbling duck of eastern North America and the heaviest member of the genus Anas. It resembles a very dark female Mallard with a paler head. A partial migrant, it breeds in freshwater and coastal wetlands from central Canada to the north-eastern United States and winters mainly along the east coast. Some populations have declined due to wetland loss and hybridisation with Mallards.

Did you know?

  • It regularly hybridises with the closely related Mallard.
  • Its species name, rubripes, is Latin for “red-footed”.

About the species

Identification

A dark, sooty-bodied duck with a contrasting paler head and neck, a yellow-green bill (the female's culmen slightly darker) and orange legs. The speculum is purplish-blue or teal with only a narrow, indistinct dirty-white trailing edge, lacking the broad white borders of a Mallard. It looks clearly darker and more uniform than a female Mallard.

Family

Anatidae

Size

Very large (swan)

Colours

brown, black, yellow, orange

About the habitat

Tidal salt and brackish marshes, estuaries and bays, and a wide range of freshwater wetlands – beaver ponds, shallow lakes, bogs, river edges and wooded swamps.

Diet

An omnivore: seeds, stems, leaves and roots of wetland plants, and in coastal areas especially in winter also mussels, snails, amphipods, insects and small fish; ducklings first eat mostly aquatic invertebrates.

Behaviour

Feeds by dabbling and up-ending in shallow water and also grazes in fields. Calls are Mallard-like, with the female giving a loud, descending series of quacks. The female lays about 6–14 eggs near water and leads the brood to rich feeding areas; the young fledge in about six weeks.

Sources

Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American Black Duck pair at Green Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn (62110).jpg

Text: Wikipedia (English) + GBIF regional observations + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; GBIF occurrence data; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_black_duck

See also