Scientific Name:   Anas rubripes

Length:   21.3-23.2 in (54-59 cm)

Weight:   25.4-57.9 oz (720-1640 g)

Wingspan:   34.6-37.4 in (88-95 cm)

Nest:   They nest in eastern wetlands including freshwater and saltmarshes. During migration and winter, they rest and forage in protected ponds, marshes, and bays. It is a partially migratory species, mostly wintering in the east-central United States, especially in coastal areas. Nest sites are well-concealed on the ground, often in uplands.

Eggs:   A clutch size of 6-14 eggs, pale greenish buff in color.

Feeding Behavior:   It is an omnivorous species with a diverse diet. It feeds by dabbling in shallow water and grazing on land. Its plant diet primarily includes a wide variety of wetland grasses and sedges, and the seeds, stems, leaves and root stalks of aquatic plants, such as eelgrass, pondweed and smartweed. Its animal diet includes mollusks, snails, amphipods, insects, mussels and small fishes.

Young:   Hatching takes 30 days on average and the incubation is usually takes 25 to 26 days. Both sexes share duties, although the male usually defends the territory until the female reaches the middle of her incubation period. Once the eggs hatch, the hen leads the brood to rearing areas with abundant invertebrates and vegetation.

Range:   From the upper Mississippi River across to the northeastern United States, north into Manitoba, across Ontario, and into the eastern Canadian provinces.

Brief Description:   American Black Ducks have a profile nearly identical to Mallards with rounded heads, thick bills, and bulky bodies. They have dark brown bodies with pale gray-brown heads and yellow-green bills. Females tend to be slightly paler than males, with duller olive bills. They have a brilliant purplish blue speculum, or wing patch, highlighted by black margins and stark white underwings that can be seen in flight. The call of female American Black Ducks is a loud quack or series of quacks, indistinguishable from the call of female Mallards. The males have lower, softer, and shorter calls more like a low reedy quek. All ducks tend to return in fall and winter to the same marshes that they visited the previous year, but this trait is most pronounced in the American Black Duck.