Male Mallard

The weather has been wet and overcast today, so shortly after 10am this morning I met up with a friend to do some more 'birdie shooting' at Forest Farm, near Coryton, Cardiff.

I took some lovely photo's of small birds; I did hear a woodpecker and hoped it'd make an appearance but wasn't so lucky today. As it's Wide Angle Wednesday Challenge and the theme is 'M', 'H', or 3, the blipfoto fits the bill (excuse the pun) nicely as it's a Male Mallard - I love the lovely reflections of the reeds behind it. It was there for ages on its own, just floating; relaxing.

The male birds (drakes) have a glossy green head and are grey on wings and belly, while the females (hens or ducks) have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black speculum feathers which commonly also include iridescent blue feathers especially among males. Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes.

In the wild they live between 5 and 10 years.