Ducks I

Unlike most birds, male and female ducks have different calls.

The female Wood Duck has a loud call oo-eek often heard in times of agitation or in flight.
In flight (Mar, PA).

A group of 7 birds flying upstream with first female calls, followed by male calls (Mar, PA).

female call








male call











Another two examples of calling male Wood Duck, in each case the male was with a single female.
(Mar, PA)










(Apr, PA)











Female Wood Duck with young, the young heard peeping at the beginning of the cut, the female making a number of calls (May, ND).

peeping of chicks








female calls









purring call of female at 23s










American Wigeon, male and female calls. The American Wigeon male also has a squeaky call, but it is in two or three parts. The female has a growling call very similar to Aythya female calls (Redhead, scaup).
(Mar, NJ).












The Eurasian Wigeon male has a higher single-syllable call (Feb, DE).











A solitary quacking female Mallard (Apr, NJ). Persistent quacking occurs during nest-site selection.










Female decrescendo call (Dec, UK).

time scale reduced









Male Mallard "rhaib" calls. Male mallards do not quack (Nov, PA).










Male courtship whistles, a group of about 12 males and 6 females (Dec, PA).











Mallard courtship calls by a group of 7 males and 3 females, at dawn, with female "inciting" calls followed by a male whistle (Nov, PA).

inciting calls










whistle









Black Duck calls are the same those of Mallards.

Several Black Duck taking flight (Feb, NJ)













Three Black Duck in flight, female inciting calls (Jan, NJ)












Female inciting calls




Black Duck male courtship whistle (Jan, NJ)














The male Gadwall has a short, nasal call, called a burp (May, ND).










During the "grunt-whistle" courtship display a whistle is added to the nasal call (Nov, NJ).












The female Gadwall (here in flight) has a quack similar to the female Mallard but harsher (May, ND).











The female Blue-winged Teal (here in flight) has a bisyllabic quack (May, ND).











The Blue-winged Teal male has a pew courtship call (May, ND)












A group of Blue-winged Teal in migration. As is typical with ducks, the male and female calls are dissimilar (Oct, NJ).
male call (similar to a soft Northern Shoveler male call)













female call













Other female ducks with quacks include Redhead and scaup. The quacks are low and guttural.
Female Lesser Scaup taking flight (May, ND).












Female Redhead in flight (May, ND).












The male Redhead has a whee-ough call (May, ND).