How does a duck find food in water?

Think of a pond on a sunny morning. Listen, and you can hear the ducks go quack, quack. They float along on the shiny water, calm and slow.

Ducks get hungry, just like you. Yet you never see a duck holding a spoon or a fork! So how does a duck find food in water?

First, the duck paddles to a shallow part of the pond. Here the water is not very deep. Seeds, green plants and little bugs sit on the muddy bottom, and the duck wants to reach them.

Then the duck does something funny. It tips upside down, with its tail up in the air and its head under the water. We call this dabbling, which means tipping upside down to reach food under the water.

While it is dabbling, the duck kicks its webbed feet. The kicking keeps it tipped over. That way its bill can stay down near the bottom.

Down in the mud, the water is cloudy, so the duck cannot see much. Instead, it feels with the tip of its bill, the way your fingers find a toy under bath bubbles. When its bill touches a seed or a bug, the duck knows food is there.

Next, the duck scoops up a big mouthful of mud and water, food and all. Now its bill is full of muddy water. What do you think the duck does with all that water?

The duck squeezes the water back out through the sides of its bill. Along the edges sit rows of tiny bumps, like a comb. Together the bumps work like a sieve, which is a kitchen bowl full of small holes. The water slips out, and the seeds and bugs stay in.

Dabbling. Sieve. A duck goes dabbling, feels for food with its bill, then uses it as a sieve.

Next time you see a duck's tail pop up on a pond, you will know it is finding its dinner, so smile and wave goodnight to it.