This is Bird Note.

Ah, mallards at your local pond.

They're our 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 herd. 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 brown ones.

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.

Malellards make a more subdued

and raspy call,

mostly when courting or greeting or when they feel threatened.

For Bird Note, I'm Mary McCann.