Page 1

A duck is a bird that has webbed feet and waterproof feathers. Ducks have some features that geese and swans have. But the wings and the necks of ducks are shorter. Their bills are flatter, too. Ducks quack or whistle, but they don't honk. Male ducks are called drakes, and females are called ducks.
 
Ducks live throughout the world in wetlands, including marshes (wet areas with long grasses) and areas near rivers, ponds, lakes, and oceans. Ducks can live in cold and warmer parts of the world at any time of year. Many kinds of ducks migrate (travel long distances) annually (each year) between their breeding grounds (where they rest and raise their babies), and their wintering areas, where the water does not freeze. Some ducks migrate thousands of miles.  

Page 2

Ducks spend a lot of time in the water, where their webbed feet help them paddle for swimming and diving. They are graceful on water, but waddle and look clumsy when they walk on land. This is because their legs are on the sides and toward the back of the body. Most common wild ducks weigh from 2 to 4 pounds (about the weight of your Math book), but some smaller ducks weigh less than 1 pound.

Ducks get their food in different ways, depending on their body features. Some ducks stretch their long necks down through shallow water to pick food off the bottom. Others dive for food in deep water. Many ducks can get seeds, insects, and snails from the water. Some ocean water ducks have short bills that they use to pry barnacles from rocks or to grab clams. Others have long, narrow bills with sawlike edges for catching and holding fish.  

Page 3

Ducks protect themselves from cold water by waterproofing their feathers. They use their bills to rub their feathers with a waxy oil from a place on their body near their tail. Under the oiled feathers, there are soft, fluffy feathers called "down". Down helps keep a duck's body warm because it traps air under the outside feathers.

Some ducks have bright-colored feathers. Their colors include green, blue, red, and brown. Some ducks are mostly black and white. Most females (girl ducks) are brown, and can hide by blending in with the surroundings when incubating (sitting on) eggs or taking care of ducklings (baby ducks).

Page 4

Ducks seek mates during winter. (That means that boy ducks try to find girl ducks to live with.) The bright colors of the drakes (boy ducks) attract females (girl ducks). A female usually leads her drake to the breeding grounds (where she wants the male to live) during the spring migration, often coming back to the same place where she was hatched when she was born.

The ability of ducks and other birds to return to the same places each year is called "homing behavior". Male ducks will defend a small territory from which he drives away (intimidates or fights) other males. The female builds a nest in a clump of grass or reeds, or in a hole in a tree.

Page 5

The female duck lays from 5 to 12 eggs. After she starts to sit on the eggs to warm and protect them, the drake leaves to join other males. The ducklings hatch from three weeks to four weeks later.

Ducklings can run, swim, and find food for themselves within 3 days of hatching. A group of ducklings is called a "brood". A mother duck keeps her brood together so she can protect the ducklings from predators (other animals that want to eat them).
Animals that prey on ducklings include turtles, raccoons, hawks, and large fish. Sometimes the ducklings in one brood mix with another. So, some females end up with broods of 15 to 25 ducklings. Ducklings have most of their feathers in about a month. They learn to fly in 5 to 8 weeks.

Page 6

Once the female duck has nested, the drake usually leaves her and joins other drakes to molt (lose their old feathers). The drakes lose their bright colors and for many weeks have a brown color like that of the females. During this molt, the drake also loses his flying feathers and cannot fly.

Male ducks molt again in early fall and regain the male coloring. After a female's ducklings hatch, she also molts and replaces all her feathers.

After growing new feathers and after the young learn to fly, the ducks gather in flocks (a group of ducks). They usually fly in long lines or "V" formations. Flocks go to the same summer and winter areas every year, even stopping to rest at the same places along the way.