All Anatids have several distinguishing characteristics that make them easy to identify to family. These include:
- A large and somewhat flattened bill
- Medium to large birds with a broad body
- Partially Webbed feet
- Predominantly brown, black, white, and metallic green colors.
Some species share a hard process or "nail" at the tip of their bill, a large preen gland, long necks, and a large external penis in males.
The shape of the bill is perfectly shaped for each individual species diet. Most geese are herbivorous and their bill is wide, flat and strong to grasp vegetation. Ducks that feed by filtering water like Shovelers, have a broad spatula-like bill to increase straining efficiency. The "nail" in filters and dabbling feeder is small because they do not need it to obtain food. Mergansers, whose diet is only fish, have a narrow serrated bill. This allows them to hold on to slippery fish.
Most Anatids are strong fliers and have powerful pectoral and supracoracoideus muscles.
Males Anatids have a penis. Unlike mammals, sperm does not flow through the central canal, but through the grooves along the outside. The shape is long and twisty, like a cork-screw.
The colors of Anatid plumage differs greatly from species and contains a wide variety of colors. There are also curled hoods, like on the muscovy duck, and crests like on mergansers.
Flight feathers are molted once a year. All feathers are lost simultaneously so the bird cannot fly during this short period of time. Contour Feathers are molted twice per year.
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