126: Mallards: The World’s Most Familiar Duck Is More Fascinating Than You Think 🦆

This week on Birds of a Feather Talk Together, we dive into one of the most recognizable and widespread birds in North America: the Mallard Duck.Before jumping into our duck deep dive, John breaks down the history and importance of the Christmas Bird Count—one of the longest-running citizen science projects in the world and a major part of bird conservation and bird population research.We then explore what makes Mallards so successful and adaptable, from their seasonal plumage changes and iridescent blue speculum feathers to their behavior, migration, habitat, and how they differ from other duck species. Whether you’ve seen them at local ponds, wetlands, parks, or rivers, Mallards are far more fascinating than many people realize.In this episode, Field Museum ornithologists John Bates and Shannon Hackett join RJ Pole and Amanda Marquart to discuss Mallard identification, duck behavior, bird migration, waterfowl ecology, and the science behind one of the world’s most familiar ducks.If you love birding, birdwatching, ducks, waterfowl, bird identification, backyard birds, wildlife science, conservation, and fascinating bird facts, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.Here are links to our social and YouTube pages, give us a follow:YouTube InstagramTikTokBlueSky