Diving mallards

[DucksGeeseHeart]

There are almost 50 mallards camped out in the pond in front of my apartment complex; I feed them every day.
They all look the same - the drakes and hens are all colored like mallards.
A percentage of them (10-12) do this diving thing that looks like water ballet! They will hop up in the air then dive entirely under the water, swim for several feet, then re-emerge. They seem to have great fun with it! Sometimes they surface, pop up, then re-submerge again and again - looking like a playful porpoise.

I looked up what kind of duck dives like this, and have found many articles saying that mallards *do not,* and the ones that do look nothing like mallards.

Well, some of these mallards do dive (not dabble). It's great fun to watch and wish I could get it on video.

I'd love to know whether anyone else has witnessed this in ducks that are the same color (both drakes and hens) as mallards.

 

[Brooke_R]

All of my ducks including my mallards will splash and dive too. They’re excited and playing

 

[Isadora]

My ducks do this and I don't have Mallards. I have pekins and runners. They get super excited, especially if they haven't been in the water for a while.

 

[DucksGeeseHeart]

All of my ducks including my mallards will splash and dive too. They’re excited and playing

That's interesting, thanks Brooke!
I wonder whether the mallards can learn it from the other types of ducks that are labeled as "diving ducks." Or whether the non-divers (dabblers) can learn it from the ones who have learned to dive.

I remember last summer watching one of our flocks of ducklings being taught to dive. Everyone diving and swimming under water like little kids in a swimming pool. And splashing by beating their wings really fast against the water, making a spray. So fun!

 

[DucksGeeseHeart]

My ducks do this and I don't have Mallards. I have pekins and runners. They get super excited, especially if they haven't been in the water for a while.

Thanks Isadora! I looked up those breeds and they're not categorized as divers either.
I'm starting to think maybe the length of time under water makes a difference to the category of "diver." I did read that the diving ducks will stay under for 10-20 seconds. The mallards I'm watching stay under more like 5 seconds. Maybe long enough to grab a minnow if that's part of the plan.
(I know the white farm ducks will corral and catch minnows. I never did determine whether the mallards grab little fish).

 

[raingarden]

That's not like real diving. An honest-to-goodness diving duck can practically fly under water and dig shellfish out of the bottom. Mallards must be made of cork or something. It takes all their energy just to get themself under water for a split second.

 

[DucksGeeseHeart]

That's not like real diving. An honest-to-goodness diving duck can practically fly under water and dig shellfish out of the bottom. Mallards must be made of cork or something. It takes all their energy just to get themself under water for a split second.

Thanks raingarden.
Yes, I was just reading some more about the true divers and saw the description you gave. They stay under for much longer than do the mallards I watch.

It's funny what you said, "they must be made of cork."
It must be amazing to watch a true diving duck. I've watched comorants - I think they're more in salt water places. But never imagined a duck that dives to the bottom and stays there for awhile.

 

[GranderTheGander]

The mallards are bathing or playing, not truly diving. I've only once seen a mallard going after a minnow. It was a duckling, too. Mallards have no need or inclination to learn anything from other ducks. All ducks, except for the Muscovy duck are derived from mallards.

 

[KaleIAm]

All 6 of the ducks I have had, domesticated from mallards, have enjoyed diving a great deal. We have a pond on our property big enough to row around in a little dinghy, and I used to take my ducks there all the time when they were younger. They would dive under the water, under my boat, and pop up 30 feet away! They hunted frogs, tad poles, and probably other things under the water.

But it was very much different than the true diving ducks. I worked in a household on a lake for 5 years and I would watch the diving ducks like buffleheads. Their diving behavior was different and they stayed under much longer.

I don't know much about cormorants, but I love them and often see them along our rivers, lakes, and sloughs.

 

[GranderTheGander]

All 6 of the ducks I have had, domesticated from mallards, have enjoyed diving a great deal. We have a pond on our property big enough to row around in a little dinghy, and I used to take my ducks there all the time when they were younger. They would dive under the water, under my boat, and pop up 30 feet away! They hunted frogs, tad poles, and probably other things under the water.

But it was very much different than the true diving ducks. I worked in a household on a lake for 5 years and I would watch the diving ducks like buffleheads. Their diving behavior was different and they stayed under much longer.

I don't know much about cormorants, but I love them and often see them along our rivers, lakes, and sloughs.

There's some cormorants with pelicans for you. The cormorants are true diving birds.