What a fascinating observation. Per https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mallard/lifehistory , Mallards eat a good deal of animal matter, mainly invertebrates, during the summer. In my experience, it's rare to see them eat any critter that's bigger than a half-inch or so. However, a couple years ago I watched in amazement as a drake used its bill to dispatch a medium-sized bullfrog and then struggled for several minutes to swallow it.
Peter Ruprecht
Superior
In the shallow bay at the end of the Boulder West trailhead yesterday, our Boulder Bird Club group observed something very strange. A mother Pied-billed Grebe was actively hunting and feeding what looked like small crayfish to her three young (they still had head stripes). They were being followed by a lone Mallard, which would aggressively pursue a young grebe after it had been given the crawfish by its mother until it was able to snatch the crawfish from the young grebe's mouth. The grebes would dive and thus lose the Mallard for a moment, but as soon as it popped up, the Mallard was after it again. This happened three times within 15 minutes. I thought Mallards were vegetarians! --
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