Gadwall

The Gadwall is a medium-sized dabbling duck that appears plain gray-brown from a distance but reveals fine, intricate barring and scaling across the breast and flanks when viewed closely. The breeding drake is patterned in subtle grays with a black rear end (undertail coverts) that contrasts sharply with the paler body, along with a thin black bill.

Females resemble female Mallards but are more uniformly patterned, with a thinner orange-edged bill and a distinctive white speculum (wing patch) that helps separate them from other female dabbling ducks in flight.

Key Field Marks

• Breeding drake: fine gray vermiculated pattern overall, black rear end, black bill, chestnut-and-black patch on the wing coverts
• Female: mottled brown similar to female Mallard but with a thinner bill (orange sides, dark culmen) and squarer head
• White speculum bordered in black, visible in flight on both sexes — a key distinguishing mark

Similar Species

Female Mallards are bulkier with a broader orange-and-black bill and a blue (not white) speculum. The male Gadwall's understated gray pattern and bold black rear end are unlike any other common dabbling duck.

Gadwalls breed across the prairie pothole region and other wetlands of North America, as well as temperate Europe and Asia, favoring marshes, lakes, and ponds with abundant submerged and emergent vegetation. They are migratory in northern parts of their range, wintering across the southern and coastal United States, Mexico, and comparable latitudes elsewhere, often on reservoirs, coastal marshes, and impoundments.

Gadwall populations have generally increased over recent decades, and the species has expanded its breeding and wintering range in North America.

Gadwalls feed primarily by dabbling and tipping up in shallow water to reach submerged aquatic vegetation and algae, and are notably more vegetarian in diet than many other dabbling ducks, though they take some invertebrates as well. They are also known to steal food brought to the surface by diving ducks and American Coots.

The male's call is a low, hoarse, croaking note quite different from a Mallard's quack, while the female's quack is similar to but softer than a Mallard hen's. Nests are built on the ground in grass or shrub cover near water, often on islands where available to reduce predation risk, with females incubating 7-12 eggs alone.