Quackoria Learn
What Do Ducks Eat?
Wild ducks eat far more than the pond weed you can see. Here is what is actually on the menu, season by season, and what you should bring if you want to feed them.
Key takeaways
- Most ducks are omnivores: plants, seeds, insects, snails, worms and small aquatic animals.
- Dabbling ducks tip up to reach food near the surface; diving ducks go under for it.
- Ducklings eat far more insects than adults because they need the protein to grow.
- If you feed ducks at a park, bring defrosted peas, sweetcorn, oats or chopped lettuce.
Ducks are omnivores, not vegetarians
The picture most people have of a duck’s diet is a bird nibbling weed at the edge of a pond. That is part of it. The rest of the menu is animal: insects and their larvae, snails, worms, small crustaceans, and in some species tadpoles and small fish.
What a particular duck eats depends on two things — what its bill is built to collect, and what the season is offering.
Dabblers eat from the top, divers from the bottom
Dabbling ducks like the mallard, teal and wigeon feed at or just under the surface. You will see them tip forward, tail in the air, to reach plants and invertebrates within about half a metre of the surface. Their bills are lined with lamellae, comb-like ridges that let them strain small food out of water and mud.
Diving ducks like the pochard, scaup and tufted duck go fully under and swim down for their food, taking more molluscs, crustaceans and plant roots. Mergansers are a specialist case: their long, serrated bills are built for gripping fish.
The menu changes with the season
- Spring: a protein push. Laying females and growing ducklings eat far more insects, snails and larvae than at any other time of year.
- Summer: aquatic plants, seeds, insects and whatever the pond is producing in quantity.
- Autumn: seeds and grain. Ducks put on fat for migration and will work harvested fields for spilled grain.
- Winter: whatever holds out — waste grain, roots, tubers and any invertebrates they can still reach.
What ducklings eat
Ducklings feed themselves from the first day. Their mother leads them to food but does not put it in their bills. In those first weeks they eat a much higher proportion of insects than adults do, because growing feathers and muscle takes protein that pond weed cannot supply.
If you want to feed ducks at the park
Bring one of these instead of bread:
- Defrosted frozen peas or sweetcorn
- Porridge oats, uncooked
- Chopped lettuce or other leafy greens
- Birdseed or cracked corn
Scatter a small amount, watch, and stop when the ducks stop being interested. Food left floating fouls the water and draws rats — which is a bigger problem for the ducks than any single meal.
And if you keep ducks yourself
Domestic ducks need a formulated waterfowl or all-flock feed as the base of the diet, with greens and vegetables as extras. Ducks also need more niacin than chickens do, which matters most while they are growing.
Frequently asked questions
What do ducks eat in the wild?
Aquatic plants and seeds, grasses, grain left in fields, insects and their larvae, snails, worms, small crustaceans, and in some species small fish and tadpoles. The mix shifts with the season and with what the species is built to reach.
What is the best thing to feed ducks at a park?
Defrosted frozen peas, sweetcorn, oats, chopped lettuce, or birdseed. Scatter a little on the water or the bank, and stop when the ducks lose interest so nothing is left to rot.
Do ducks eat fish?
Some do. Mergansers are specialists with serrated bills built for catching fish. Mallards and other dabblers may take a very small fish or tadpole, but their diet is mostly plants and invertebrates.
How often do ducks eat?
Ducks feed throughout the day in short bouts rather than in a few large meals, and many species also feed at night, especially where daytime disturbance is high.
