Gadwall
Mareca strepera
About This Species
Look for this understated grey-brown dabbling duck on freshwater lakes, marshes and reservoirs, often mixed in with other waterfowl, where it feeds by dabbling and upending and sometimes steals food surfacing diving ducks bring up. Numbers build noticeably through autumn and winter as birds arrive to overwinter. A scope helps pick it out among more colourful ducks on open water.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Waterfowl are especially vulnerable to disturbance while resting or feeding in winter flocks, so avoid actions that cause a flock to flush, including letting dogs run along the shoreline.
- It is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in the US and under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in the UK, though specific rules vary across its wintering range.
- Viewing from a distance with binoculars or a scope is the better approach.
LCAvesAnseriformesAnatidae
Seasonal Activity
6,567,701 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Anseriformes
- Family
- Anatidae
Photo
Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.