Gadwalls

     I see gadwall ducks every winter here in southeastern Pennsylvania, but usually only a pair or two of them, or single birds, at a time on creeks, ponds and flooded quarries.  But I have seen  a few little flocks of them over the years in this area, mixed in with other kinds of ducks.  Gadwalls have been on two ponds that I know of every winter for years, but yesterday, December 10, 2015, I had a rare treat.  I saw at least a dozen gadwalls of both genders with about 50 mallard ducks on a three-acre, shallow impoundment where I have never seen them before.  That human-made pond is surrounded by thin strips of deciduous woods, busy roads, and a suburban business center, landscaped with lawns, dense thickets and cattail ponds.
     Those two duck species together were a lovely, inspiring sight on a sunny winter's afternoon.  Several of the mallards were picturesque lined up and resting on limbs of a tree fallen into the shallow water.  The drakes were handsome in their breeding plumage and green heads. Other mallards were floating on the pond and "tipping up" with their tails pointed to the sky as they dredged the bottom of the pond with their beaks for water vegetation.  The gadwalls, too, were tipping up to pull aquatic plants from the mud to eat.      
     Gadwall drakes are handsome in a plain way.  They have dark bills and black rears.  Their body feathering is mostly an appealing gray and their heads and necks are a lovely shade of warm brown.  Hen gadwalls are brown and mottled, as most female ducks are for camouflage on their nests and when raising ducklings. 
     Adult gadwalls are vegetarians, mostly eating seeds, water plants and other vegetation.  Their young, however, consume a lot of animal matter, including water invertebrates, to get protein for rapid growth. 
     Gadwalls live around the northern hemisphere, including Europe, Asia and North America, though not in abundance.  In North America they breed on the prairies of the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada.  They winter in the southern third of the United States and in Mexico, another reason why they are uncommon in southeastern Pennsylvania.
     Gadwalls are uncommon ducks that are handsome in plain ways.  It's always exciting for me to spot a few of them in my home area in winter.