Bird of the Week: Gadwall

Gadwall. Photo by Pete Arnold.

Pairs bond in November, five months before breeding season, but the females will do all the incubating and brooding while the males go off together to molt, replacing worn feathers. The Conservation Reserve Program has aided their nesting habitat which is thick vegetation along edges of prairie pothole lakes. Classified with dabbling ducks, those that feed on or near the water’s surface, this species also breeds in Europe and Asia.

Published March 4, 2009, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Text by Barb Gorges, photo by Pete Arnold.