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Gadwall

Gadwall

Mareca strepera

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The Gadwall is a medium-sized dabbling duck of northern Eurasia and central North America. Males wear understated grey-brown plumage with a black rear and a white wing patch, while females resemble female Mallards but have a white speculum and an orange-edged bill. It feeds mainly on aquatic plants and often steals food from coots.

Did you know?

  • Its species name strepera means “noisy”, although Gadwalls are usually quiet.
  • Unusually for a dabbling duck, it often pilfers plants from diving coots.

Voice

Song
Flight call

About the species

Identification

A good mark is the white speculum, visible also in flight. The breeding male is finely vermiculated grey-brown with a black rear. Females and young resemble Mallard but are slimmer, lack the blue speculum and show the white wing patch; the bill is dark with orange sides.

Family

Anatidae

Size

Large (crow)

Colours

grey, brown, black, white

About the habitat

Shallow, nutrient-rich lakes, ponds and marshes with plenty of emergent and submerged vegetation; outside the breeding season also slow rivers, reservoirs and sheltered coastal bays.

Diet

Mainly aquatic plants – leaves, stems and seeds of pondweeds and other water plants; also insects, crustaceans and molluscs, especially in the breeding season.

Behaviour

Feeds by dabbling and upending and dives more readily than most dabbling ducks; it often follows coots to snatch vegetation they bring up. Generally quiet and wary, it forms small flocks outside the breeding season. Pairs form early; the nest is on the ground in dense cover, often some distance from water.

Sources

Photo: Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gadwall-Anas-strepera.jpg

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC730776, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/730776

Sound: Joost van Bruggen, XC436359, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/436359

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadwall

See also