Two white ducks fill the frame in close-up, their heads tilted and their glossy black eyes fixed on the viewer. The larger duck on the left is nearer and the smaller one on the right sits a little further back. Their bills are a bright, polished orange, and the nostrils and the creases of the beak are modelled in detail.

The feathers are built from many fine, feathery strokes of cream and white. Behind them, a mottled olive-green background is brushed on loosely. The simple setting keeps attention on the birds' comic, inquisitive expressions.