An elegant surface-feeding duck with a slender bill, slim, often-raised neck, narrow wings and pointed tail. Males in winter are strikingly patterned while females are pale and rather plain-faced.

Females have a typical female Mallard’s streaky-brown pattern, but are more neatly marked with more uniform, paler heads and necks. In winter, however, the startling white breasts of adult drakes are obvious at great range, making them hard to miss on the marsh or mud flat. They are rather wild and elusive, rarely allowing a close approach in the wide open spaces that they prefer.