A duck with a rounded head and distant plainer plumage than most, the male is gray with black tail coverts. Only when one observes the male at a closer range, is the discovery made of his innate beauty with subtle red patches on the forewing and black bordered white speculum seen in flight. Occasionally the white speculum attribute is missing on the female.
The female resembles a female Mallard but her thin bill is orange only on both sides.
The species is common, sometimes found in the company of the American Wigeon. If they are located with only their species, it is generally in small numbers. The Gadwall are dabbling ducks, but not as gregarious as most.
It appears that global warming could shrink the migratory range, simply changing it to an extended version of the winter range over the next several decades.
Gadwall Pair
Boomer Lake Park, 2014
These ducks breed in the north central US, along the Great Lakes and in patches in the northeast. In Canada they breed in the Boreal Forest and the southwest coastal islands.
Preferring open wetlands, marshes or grasslands with dense fringe vegetation, or even moist fields, meadows, and prairies, this is a hardier species than most. Not only do they have greater reproductive success, but they also fare much better during drought, as they are such an adaptable species. Even though the male tends to leave the area during incubation, the female manages quite well without him.
As opportunists, the Gadwall will sometimes steal food from coots and other ducks. Females will store nutrients via invertebrate fuel over the winter and spring, and she will lay an egg a day for sometimes up to twelve days.
Mallards and Gadwalls will hybridize.
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