- Mallards Snoozing in Winter is meant to introduce their behavior when they get together after the breeding season.
- The following information is from Drilling, Nancy, Rodger D. Titman and Frank McKinney. 2002. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (P. G. Rodewald, editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA.https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.658
- In nonbreeding season, sleeps in groups at favored places; roosting sites tend to provide good visibility for predator sighting and shelter from wind. Normally sleeps on land; sits on ground, or stands on one or both legs; bill tucked back into scapular-feathers or lowered forward to rest on breast. Resting postures vary with weather conditions (Midtgard 1978); on windy days, faces prevailing wind, presumably reducing heat loss, and stands on both legs for better balance; on sunny, summer days, faces the sun and assumes erect standing posture that appears to expose bill and feet to sun. Sleeping ducks briefly open eyes every few seconds (“peeking”), apparently sampling environment for predators (Lendrem 1983). Can sleep with one eye open and control sleep and wakeful-ness independently in 2 brain hemispheres; brain hemisphere opposite open eye awake (slow-wave sleep), while hemisphere opposite closed eye asleep (Rattenborg et al. 1999). May function in predator detection; experimental birds at group edge more frequently exhibit slow-wave sleep than centrally located birds and orient open eye away from group center (Rattenborg et al. 1999
- Usually lives in large flocks of hundreds or thousands on molting, migration, and wintering areas.
Flocked Mallards on water become alert when they detect mammalian predators and males give Slow Raehb Calls; then may “toll” (approach and follow watchfully).
May flush from water when harried by raptors, but also may seek water or cluster and remain motionless on water
