The Gadwall is a medium-sized dabbling duck characterized by a quietly patterned gray body and, in the male, a distinctive black rump patch. In Arizona, Gadwalls are primarily winter visitors, arriving as early as October and remaining through March or April, with peak concentrations at low-elevation reservoirs, managed wetlands (such as Cienega Creek and the ponds around Tucson), and along the lower Colorado River. Although commonplace in winter—often seen in mixed flocks with Mallards and Pintails—breeding is rare in the state; a handful of nesting records exist along the Colorado River near Yuma and at some higher-elevation reservoirs. Gadwalls feed by tipping forward (“dabbling”) to graze on aquatic vegetation and small invertebrates, and their unobtrusive plumage and mellow quack make them a familiar, if easily overlooked, component of Arizona’s winter waterfowl assemblage.
