{"id":44847,"date":"2017-02-08T06:16:12","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T13:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=44847"},"modified":"2025-02-14T08:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T14:56:14","slug":"pair-of-mallards-mating-in-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/02\/08\/pair-of-mallards-mating-in-february\/","title":{"rendered":"Pair of Mallards Mating in February"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days ago there were areas of blue sky in the afternoon with some decent light and since I hadn’t gone out to photograph in the morning due to clouds I felt I had to get out and take some photos of birds while there was light.<\/p>\n

\"MallardsMallards mating in February – Nikon D500, f11, 1\/400, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve been feeling cooped up a lot lately and since the local pond is just a few minutes away it makes sense to head down to it when there is good light because you just never know what you might find there.<\/p>\n

I keep looking for the Canada x Snow Goose hybrid<\/span><\/a> but I haven’t seen it in some time but there are at least two Double-crested Cormorants that seem to be overwintering here because I have seen them from a distance rather frequently.<\/p>\n

Right now the most common birds I see at the pond are coots, ducks, gulls and geese. The most common ducks there are mallards and since they are used to humans walking around the pond or sitting on the shoreline fishing they aren’t very skittish at all.<\/p>\n

Mallards form pairs in the fall and courtship can be seen during the winter and seeing them mating in February isn’t all that unusual.\u00a0 So the other day when I saw a pair of mallards bobbing their heads around in unison I got ready to take photos of them mating and they gave me some great views of the action.<\/p>\n

These mallards won’t actually nest for several more weeks and once the eggs are laid the hen will do all the work of incubation and rearing the ducklings.<\/p>\n

Maybe I will get a break in the clouds today and be able to head down to the pond. I won’t hold my breath though.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Mallard photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mallards form pairs in the fall and courtship can seen during the winter and seeing them mating in February isn’t all that unusual.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,965,709,26],"tags":[4237,2419,4483,126,4070,4359,4062,1604,4363,1984,2063,373],"class_list":["post-44847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-mallards","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-anas-platyrhynchos","tag-courtship","tag-drake","tag-ducks-2","tag-female","tag-hen","tag-male","tag-mallard","tag-mating","tag-pond","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mallards-mating-mia-mcpherson-2862.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bFl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14474,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/02\/28\/taking-a-gander-at-mating-canada-geese\/","url_meta":{"origin":44847,"position":0},"title":"Taking a Gander at mating Canada Geese","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Officially it isn't spring yet but the Canada Geese here in the Salt Lake Valley don't seem to be paying much attention to our human calendars at all and have begun their mating season.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pair of Canada Geese after mating in a pond in northern Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-utah-mia-mcpherson-1033.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-utah-mia-mcpherson-1033.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-utah-mia-mcpherson-1033.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/canada-geese-utah-mia-mcpherson-1033.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50395,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/29\/mallards-in-flight-in-golden-afternoon-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":44847,"position":1},"title":"Mallards In Flight In Golden Afternoon Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Photographing the Mallards in flight in golden afternoon light was a terrific way to end my bird photography session for the evening.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hen Mallards in flight in afternoon light, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/mallard-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2839.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/mallard-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2839.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/mallard-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2839.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/mallard-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2839.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49531,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/11\/22\/drake-mallards-bathing-and-splashing\/","url_meta":{"origin":44847,"position":2},"title":"Drake Mallards Bathing and Splashing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"After bathing the Mallards lift up, flap their wings and shake the water off and I have also noticed them repeat the process of bathing several times in succession. Bathe, shake, flap.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Mallard bathing and splashing, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mallard-drake-bathing-mia-mcpherson-7767.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mallard-drake-bathing-mia-mcpherson-7767.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mallard-drake-bathing-mia-mcpherson-7767.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mallard-drake-bathing-mia-mcpherson-7767.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62016,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/11\/focusing-on-winter-redheads\/","url_meta":{"origin":44847,"position":3},"title":"Focusing On Winter Redheads","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Why were the mallards sticking close to this Redhead? 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