Kip’s Comments - February 6, 2025

Questions About Mallards

After teaching a class at Wartburg today I had time to fill. There were not enough minutes to allow for a hike so I parked along the Cedar River to watch Canada geese and mallards.

An initial observation was that the Canada geese - at least many of them - seemed to be paired up already and possessive of areas. Multiple times I watched a pair scold other geese that approached too close.

Perhaps the most thought provoking observation was when I watched a mallard pair go through courtship rituals and then mate. That made me wonder a few things:

• Do mallards mate year round (a few Internet sites suggest mallards only take a month off)

• Since they mated, might the process take or was it just practice for practice?

• Does the hen have delayed implantation? (One site indicated hen mallards can delay implantation for up to two weeks.)

Mallards Mating - Image 941609

There you have - what I have unofficially learned about mallards that mate in the winter.

The pictures are a pair of views of an ice-covered prairie.

Ice at Prairie - Image 941641

Ice at Prairie - Image 941736