The first blog that I wrote in this series was about the Gadwall (Anas Strepera). This very simple duck, that is called Krakeend in Dutch, is worthwhile showing again, since I have been taking pictures of it ever since. Therefore I present you, again, the “unknown duck”.
The Gadwall is a bird of open wetlands, such as prairie or steppe lakes, wet grassland or marshes with dense fringing vegetation, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food with head submerged. It nests on the ground, often some distance from water. It is not as gregarious as some dabbling ducks outside the breeding season and tends to form only small flocks. This is a fairly quiet species; the male has a hoarse whistling call, and the female has a Mallard-like quack. The young birds are fed insects at first; adults also eat some molluscs and insects during the nesting season. The Gadwall is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. (source: Wikipedea)
The male Gadwalls are predominantly grey with a distinctive black horizontal stripe through their eyes. The female Gadwalls look much like the very common Mallard Duck, but the bill is bright orange. Both sexes have a withe feather on their both sides.
They can be seen all year around in most of the places where you would see “normal” Mallard Ducks or Mute Swans.
I came across some very flexible Gadwalls, who seem to be swimming very calmly or grooming very fiercely.
Please enjoy this beautiful and yet very simple duck in the pictures below.
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