This is Birdnought.

Ah, mallards at your local pond.

There are largest dabbling duck and among ducks, the most abundant species.

They're the source of all domestic ducks, except the Muscovy.

There's a female making herself heard.

But does it seem that all the brightly colored male mallards have disappeared?

By now, the male ducks need for fancy feathers to attract the females has passed.

The male mallards have molted, dropping their bright green, reddish, black and white feathers,

and replacing them with modeled brownlands.

Changing into more subdued colors for the months of summer helps camouflage the male ducks, protecting them from predators.

Come fall, the mallards will molt again and return to the colorful dandies we remember.

In the meantime, while all the mallards look like brownish females, there's one way to distinguish males from females.

Look closely at the bill. The male's bill is dull yellow, while the females is orange marked with black, and watch to see which duck is quacking.

That's the female mallard.

Male mallards make a more subdued and raspy call, mostly when courting or greeting, or when they feel threatened.

For Birdnope, I'm Mary McCann.