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Urban Mallards in Poland Fled at About 3 Metres, Versus 27 Metres in Agricultural Areas

Wild male and female mallards swimming in an urban moat in Poland
Research · Behaviour

A 2026 study of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) in south-eastern Poland found a pronounced behavioural difference between birds wintering in urban and agricultural landscapes. Published on 18 May 2026 in Diversity, the study compared mallards along sections of the Bystrzyca and Czerniejówka rivers during January 2025 and January 2026.

Researchers recorded flock size, bird density, sex ratio and flight initiation distance. A single observer walked directly toward the target flock at about 1 m/s, and a laser rangefinder measured the distance at the first sudden flight response. A shorter value therefore meant that the ducks allowed a person to approach more closely before fleeing.

The difference between habitats was large. Mallards in agricultural areas fled at an average distance of 26.6 metres, whereas the mean in urban areas was only 3.1 metres. Habitat type was the strongest factor explaining variation in flight distance. The authors describe the urban birds as showing very low and relatively uniform skittishness compared with the much stronger and more variable response in agricultural landscapes.

Urban stretches of river also held more mallards and larger flocks. Reported densities reached 50–94 birds per kilometre in urban areas, compared with roughly 6–18 birds per kilometre in agricultural sections. Flocks were likewise larger in the city.

The sex ratio differed between habitats as well. Agricultural groups were approximately balanced between males and females, while urban groups were male-biased, with about 0.7 females per male. Group size and sex ratio also contributed to variation in flight distance, although habitat type had by far the strongest effect.

The researchers interpret the combined pattern as continued synurbanisation — behavioural adjustment to living in human-dominated environments. The comparison shows much lower wariness in urban wintering flocks, but it does not follow the same individuals through the process of becoming urban.

Sources and image credit

  1. Jaworski, H., Flis, M., Czyżowski, P., & Piórkowski, J. (2026). A comparison of the behaviour, population size and sex ratio of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) in urban and agricultural areas of south-eastern Poland. Diversity, 18(5), 304. https://doi.org/10.3390/d18050304Primary peer-reviewed open-access study. Winter surveys in January 2025 and 2026 compared mallards on urban and agricultural stretches of the Bystrzyca and Czerniejówka rivers in south-eastern Poland. Mean flight distance was 3.12 m in urban areas and 26.63 m in agricultural areas.

Image: hedera.baltica (Pawel Wiecek) / Wikimedia Commons — wild male and female mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) in the old city moat in Wrocław, Poland, photographed 28 January 2016; representative urban Polish image, not from the study sites; cropped to 16:9 · CC BY-SA 2.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ · Source

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