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Mallard

綠頭鴨 · 绿头鸭 · 綠頭鴨 · Canard colvert · Ánade real

Anas platyrhynchos

The most common duck — males have a shiny green head. They love splashing in ponds and saying "quack, quack!"

Size

Medium · 58 cm

Latin name

Anas platyrhynchos

Status

Native to Ireland

Where to spot

Where you can spot the Mallard in Ireland

North Bull Island — Dublin: Ireland's first National Bird Sanctuary. A short bus ride from Dublin city centre — perfect for spotting waders, ducks and winter geese.
Wexford Wildfowl Reserve — County Wexford: Around 250 species recorded here. In winter, thousands of geese and swans gather on the wet meadows.
Phoenix Park — Dublin: One of the biggest city parks in Europe. Ducks on the ponds, robins in the trees, magpies on the lawns — and a herd of fallow deer too!
Lough Neagh — Counties Antrim/Down/Armagh/Tyrone/Derry: The biggest lake on the island of Ireland. Home to swans, ducks, terns and waders all year round.
Marlay Park — Dublin (Rathfarnham): A grand parkland estate in south Dublin, once the country home of the Le Touche banking family. Free-roaming peacocks call from the trees near the walled garden, mallards paddle on the ponds, and the woodlands are full of garden birds. Free entry, popular with families at weekends.
St Stephen's Green — Dublin (city centre): A leafy public park right in the middle of Dublin, a five-minute walk from Grafton Street. The big pond has Mandarin Ducks, mallards, mute swans and gulls, and the lawns are always busy with sparrows and pigeons looking for crumbs.