At a lake in northern Minnesota, we watched a female Mallard diving and eating clams. She was in about two feet of water and after diving down would come back up with a clam in her mouth. When she swallowed, the clam protruded from her neck as it went down. She consume eight clams in 15 minutes. I was surprised at this behavior as I thought Mallards were simply dabblers. Only one of my guidebooks (Smithsonian) noted that Mallards sometimes eat mollusks and dive.
Sharon K. Minneapolis
