Unlike the female duck, the male duck’s voice box isn’t built for quacking. Male Ducks’ Voice Box Isn’t Built for Quacking Because we don’t have the necessary biological adaptions to fly. This is like asking why humans don’t fly. They simply don’t have the necessary biological adaptations for quacking.

Male ducks don’t quack because their voice box isn’t built for quacking. Instead, males produce quieter, rasping calls that are used mainly in interactions with other males and during courtship rituals. The male’s voice is not suited for quacking and is actually quite different from the female’s. The male’s vocal cords are longer and narrower than the female’s, which gives the male’s call a higher pitch. While both male and female ducks have vocal cords, the males are not built for quacking. The male’s sound is quite different from the female’s and is often described as sounding like a ‘whistling teakettle.’įemales use their quacks to communicate with their young and also to warn other ducks of possible danger. This call is used mainly in interactions with other males and during courtship rituals. The familiar quacking sound that most people know is made by female ducks, typically mallards. Male ducks, also called drakes, aren’t able to quack. Instead, males produce quieter, rasping, one- or two-noted calls. Unlike the female duck, the male does not quack. We’ll also take a look at some of the other fascinating differences between male and female ducks. In this blog post, we’ll explore the reason why male ducks don’t quack and what their drake call sounds like. They typically make a more raspy sound, which is not as noisy as the female quack.ĭid you know that male ducks don’t quack? They make different sounds, and even have their own sound called a “drake call.” This is because of the way their voice box is structured. Reference: “Mallard” by Drilling, Nancy, Rodger Titman and Frank McKinney, Birds of North America.Male ducks don’t quack. Producer: John Kessler Executive Producer: Chris Peterson © 2015 Tune In to August 2018 / 2020 / 2022 Narrator: Mary McCann Allen BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler. Male Mallards make a more subdued and raspy call, mostly when courting or greeting, or when they feel threatened.Ĭalls of the Mallard provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Look closely at the bill: the male’s bill is dull yellow, while the female’s is orange marked with black.Īnd watch to see which duck is quacking. In the meantime, while all the Mallards look like brownish females, there is one way to distinguish males from females. Come fall, the Mallards will molt again and return to the colorful dandies we remember. Changing into more subdued colors for the months of summer, helps camouflage the male ducks, protecting them from predators. The male Mallards have molted, dropping their bright green, reddish, black, and white feathers, and replacing them with mottled brown ones. (muss-KO-vee) There’s a female making herself heard… But does it seem that all the brightly colored male Mallards have disappeared? By now, the male duck’s need for fancy feathers to attract the females has passed. They’re the source of all domestic ducks except the Muscovy. Revised from script written by Frances Wood This is BirdNote.Īh, Mallards at your local pond… They’re our largest dabbling duck and among ducks, the most abundant species.

Duck sounds male female