Ingrid Lae wrote about Mallards eating fish, and how none of the recent =
"birders' guides" mentioned this behavior...

As an old duck hunter, I am well aware of the fact that coastal (and =
Puget Sound) Mallards will, at times, taste about as fishy as a =
Merganser! I have observed Mallards feeding on spawned-out salmon which =
are decomposing along stream banks, and the birds will taste quite =
'fishy' when doing this. A place that I have seen this pretty regularly =
is above the Hwy 101 bridge at Kennedy Creek, where a very strong chum =
run returns to spawn each November.

Down in the Willamette Valley, during a cold snap when the surface water =
freezes over in the wintertime, Mallards will go to the flowing, open =
water of the local streams where the only food available to them is a =
snail (conical spiralled shell, black, about an inch long or so.. Does =
anyone know of a good reference to Western Washington/Oregon freshwater =
mollusks?), which they will feed upon exclusively - until the ponded =
surface water thaws and they return to 'normal' habitats and resume =
feeding on vegetable foodstuffs. When they're feeding on snails, their =
body condition must also be somewhat lessened, because their meat tastes =
very much like the bottom of the streambed.....

I think that from the number of posts on this subject, we can realize =
the amazing variety of foods that the Mallard will eat. Bent (1923) =
noted: "In Alaska and on the Pacific coast they feed largely on dead =
salmon and salmon eggs, which they obtain in the pools in the rivers." =
He cites W.L. McAtee's (1918) report based on the Biological Survey's =
examination of 1,578 Mallard gizzards: "The animal food of the mallard =
duck though extremely varied may be classed in five main groups: =
Insects, which constitute 2.67 per cent of the total diet; crustaceans, =
0.35; mollusks, 5.73; fishes, 0.47; and miscellaneous, 0.25 per cent." =
Sedges, grasses, water plants, acorns, etc made up the bulk of the diet, =
of course.

That the new bird guides don't mention much about diet doesn't surprise =
me. I've found out many times through the years, that when I see birds =
doing something I think is new and exciting, it was probably written =
about in Bent's "Life Histories" more than 75 years ago....

Best

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net