Waterfowl | Anseriformes

Eendachtigen | Anseriformes

Waterfowl have a broad, flattened bill lined with small comb-like plates, or lamellae, used to strain food from water or mud, and three forward toes joined by webbing. The plumage is dense and water-repellent, backed by an insulating layer of down that protects the bird on cold water. After the breeding season the flight feathers are shed all at once, leaving the birds flightless for several weeks; the nest is built on the ground and lined with down plucked from the female's own breast. The downy young are precocial: they leave the nest soon after hatching and feed themselves at once, though they stay close to the parent(s) for protection.

Families in this order

Ducks, swans and geese | Anatidae66 speciesThe bill differs sharply in shape according to diet within the family: in dabbling ducks it strains water at the surface, in geese the edge is reshaped into a coarse serrated ridge for clipping grass, and in mergansers it is narrow and lined with backward-pointing serrations for gripping slippery fish. Diving ducks and mergansers hunt actively underwater, driven by the feet, while dabbling ducks stay at the surface and reach for food only by tipping upside down. Swans and geese typically form a lifelong pair bond in which both parents escort the young, whereas in most ducks the male leaves after mating, moults into a drab, inconspicuous eclipse plumage, and leaves the female to manage alone. Some species nest not on the ground but in a tree cavity, and their newly hatched chicks drop to the ground within a day to follow their parent.