Mallard

The nesting area of the Mallard covers Europe, Asia and North America. In Bulgaria the Mallard is widespread throughout the country, but without the high parts of the mountains. It is more common around the large wetlands along the Danube, Tundzha, Maritsa and Black Sea coasts.

In Bulgaria, the Mallard reaches sizes up to 57 cm and 90 cm with a wingspan. There is sexual dimorphism, seasonal and age differences. Males have a characteristic multicolored plumage, with a metallic green head, a white ring on the neck and brown thorax. The rest of the body is light gray. The females are variegated brown with a blue wing mirror and a yellow beak. In other seasons, both sexes have brown plumage, black strokes on the body and a well-marked blue wing mirror. The juveniles resemble female individuals, but the color is more uniform, with more and narrower strokes at the bottom. They do not dive. These species nest in a variety of standing and flowing water bodies, and during migrations and in winter they form large concentrations.

Unknown.

The Mallard is listed in Annex II to Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds. This species is also included in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) – with the category “Least Concern” (LC).

*Note: For the description of birds is used information from: Golemanski, V. & al. (eds). 2015. Red Data Book of the Republic of Bulgaria. Vol. 2. Animals. BAS & MoEW, Sofia [English ed.: ISBN 978-954-9746-22-8 (IBER – BAS), 978-954-8497-18-3 (MoEW)]; Michev T., D. Simeonov, L. Profirov. 2012. Birds of the Balkan Peninsula. Ecotan, Sofia, 300 pp; the website of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).