Michele Mendi

Well-know, widespread and common duck with very large range, including all of Europe except tundra’s in northeast. N and E populations migratory, others sedentary or dispersive. Occurs almost everywhere where surface water is near, including urban habitats. Domesticated forms occur and interbreed with wild type. Omnivorous, all kinds of plant material eaten by grazing or dabbling, also small invertebrates. Hunted in many countries. European population 2,850,000-4,610,000 breeding pairs, trend stable but some countries decreasing, others increasing. Most important host for avian influenza (Latorre-Margalef et al. 2014).

Season of assessment

W

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		2830000-3770000,3200000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Mallard

General direction of movement is WSW in all European populations, with moderate connectivity between breeding and wintering locations. Birds in UK connect to sites within the country or to Denmark or further to Fennoscandia, Baltic and Russia. No connections with Iceland. Birds in W Europe connect to Fennoscandia and Russia in the NE and within the region to France, some to UK. Most birds in C. Europe originate from Finland and Russia and connect further to France. Birds from N Europe concentrated in S Sweden, connecting both to Finland and Russia and to UK, low countries and France. E. European birds move perpendicular in a SW direction from Karelia and Baltic to low countries and France, from SW Russia to Balkan, and from Russia to Wolga Delta and further to SE Europe or S to Iran. Wintering range has shifted due to gradual shortening of migration distance (Sauter et al. 2010).

Recoveries by Condition for Mallard

Over two fifth of all reencounters refer to dead birds, including 35% shot birds, reflecting high hunting pressure on this species. Proportion shot birds greatly reduced after 1990 however (11%). Shot birds are equally distributed over entire range. Birds ‘intentionally taken’ predominantly in Netherlands, referring to capture in traditional duck decoys. These also yield most ring recoveries, together with few other sites in Europe (total 31%). Alive, identified by other means, presumably ring readings, only occur after 1990, when they make up exactly 50% of all re encounters.

Annual Movements for Mallard

From Dec to mid Feb distribution stable and concentrated in UK, W and C Europe and Denmark, also SW Spain and N Italy. From end Feb birds leave France and Italy, increase in Russia, from end mar also increase in Fennoscandia. From begin Apr to begin May, broad band of spring-hunt recoveries in Russia E to Ob River progressively moving NE, dissolving towards NE in May. Stable Jun-Jul with hotspots in UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, more sparsely in Russia E to Ural. Increase in density in Aug, especially Sweden and Finland, also E. Europe and Russia when autumn hunting starts. In Sep-Nov, gradual retraction towards WSW through Europe to winter hotspots in UK, W and C Europe and Denmark.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Mallard

Birds breeding in NW and W Europe Apr – Jun connect to close-by locations in all months, few go further in UK, France, occasionally Spain Oct – Mar (most Dec-Feb) and to Fennoscandia / Russia in May-Sep. Vast majority of encounters is in winter Nov-Feb, connecting to S Sweden, Finland and Russia in Apr – Oct, many Öland Sep-Oct, few to Spain in Nov-Feb. C and E European breeders Apr-Jun connect to Netherlands, France and Italy in Aug-Mar (most Jan), fewer to Poland, Belarus and Russia in Apr. Wintering birds Nov-Feb move on to UK, Netherlands and France in Oct-Feb, or return to Finland (May-Sep) and Russia (Apr-May). Winterers along Black and Caspian Sea connect to SW Russia in May-Oct. Breeders in SW, SC and SE Europe move little, winterers in those regions connect to Netherlands Sep-Nov, C and E Europe and Russia May-Oct, and Russia Jul-Sep, respectively.

Henk van der Jeugd

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Latorre-Margalef, N., Tolf, C., Grosbois, V., Avril, A., Bengtsson, D., Wille, M., Osterhaus, A.D.M.E., Fouchier, R.A.M., Olsen, B., Waldenström, J.2014 . Long-term variation in influenza A virus prevalence and subtype diversity in migratory mallards in northern Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 281 article no.: 20140098 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0098)
Sauter, A., Korner-Nievergelt, F., Jenni, L.2010 . Evidence of climate change effects on within-winter movements of European Mallards Anas platyrhynchos. Ibis 152: 600–609

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