Editing Duck (section)

{{short description|Common name for many species of bird}}
{{about|the bird|duck as a food|Duck as food|other uses}}
{{redirect|Duckling}}
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{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Duck
| image = Bucephala-albeola-010.jpg
| image_caption = [[Bufflehead]]<br>(''Bucephala albeola'')
| taxon = Anatidae
| authority = 
| subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies
| subdivision = See text
| range_map = 
| range_map_caption = 
}}

'''Duck''' is the common name for numerous species of [[waterfowl]] in the [[family (biology)|family]] [[Anatidae]]. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than [[swan]]s and [[goose|geese]], which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a [[form taxon]]; they do not represent a [[monophyletic group]] (the group of all descendants of a single common ancestral species), since swans and geese are not considered ducks. Ducks are mostly [[aquatic bird]]s, and may be found in both fresh water and sea water.

Ducks are sometimes confused with several types of unrelated water birds with similar forms, such as [[loon]]s or divers, [[grebe]]s, [[gallinule]]s and [[coot]]s.