Facts And Locations About Waterfowls: Bird Watching

Here is a list that will be discussed.

• Eclipse Plumage
• Mallards
• Paddle Ducks
• Pintail
• Gadwall
• Wigeon
• Shoveler
• Blue Wing Teal
• Cinnamon Teal
• Green Wing Teal
• Wood Duck
• Black Duck
• Canvasback
• Diving Duck
• Redheads
• Ringneck
• Scaup
• Goldeneye

Learning to identify some the waterfowls can be a good learning experience for all ages. Millions of people from all over the world enjoy watching birds. Bird watching can be a very enjoyable, relaxing experience for people of all ages. Just think you can amaze your friends with the waterfowl knowledge and maybe make a trivia game out of it. What is a waterfowl bird? This is a bird that lives near or on water, which are ducks, geese, swans, and cranes plus there are many. Depending on the type of waterfowl, diving ducks prefer deeper water such as lakes, rivers, inlets, and costal bays while paddle ducks, like places such as shallow marshes and rivers, since they surface feed.

Nearly all ducks will shed their body feathers twice a year and the drakes will lose their bright plumage therefore causing them to look like the female hen. That is how the Eclipse plumage came about. This will vary in the different species and individual species when their color will return. Wing feathers will usually only shed once a year and wing colors are always the same. Watch for these signs to help identify:

• Flock Maneuvers - Loose groups are the Pintails, Mallards, and Wigeons
• Small Compact Bunches - Teal and Shovelers
• Waving lines to temporary V's - Canvasbacks

Length - 24 inches Weight - 2 3/4 pounds

This breed of duck the Mallard duck (most common) is found in all parts flyways and is also called the Greenheads.

• Flocks - Feed in the early morning, late afternoon in harvested fields.
• Return to marshes or the creeks to nest/rest for the night

A paddle duck prefers shallow waters such as fresh swallow marshes and rivers. Normally they will feed by dipping or tipping rather than diving even though they are good at diving. Their color patch on the wings are a good sign that it is a paddle duck. More than likely they will feed in the crops since they can walk or run without any problems and are quite good at it. The diet mostly consist of vegetables, grain feed mallards, or pintails and acorn fatten wood ducks.

1. Slender long neck with a pointed tail
2. Length - 26 inches Weight - 1 3/4 pounds
3. Use all four flyways
4. Fond of zig-zagging from high before landing, fast fliers
5. Often feed in grain fields

There are more Gadwall ducks in the central flyways and they are sometimes called the Grey Mallards or Grey Ducks. They usually migrants the earliest, so they hardly ever face cold weather.

• Small compact flocks
• Fly swiftly
• Direct line, wings flap rapid.

Wigeon - 21 inches in length Weight - 1 3/4 pounds

• Nervous birds, quick to respond if alarmed
• Flight - irregular with lots of turns and twist
• Movement - compared to that of pigeons

Shoveler - 19 1/2 inches in length Weight - 1 1/2 pounds

• Early migrants (moving out when first frost hits)
• Central and Pacific flyways are the most numbers
• Fly steady and direct
• Startled they twist and turn in air while flying

Blue Wing Teal - 16 inches in length Weight - 15 ounces

• Small size, twist and turn when flying, giving appearance of speed
• Common to fly low over marshes
• Vocal more than most ducks
• One of the first to migrant each fall and last in the spring

Cinnamon Teal

• More common than Blue Winged Teal
• Pacific Flyway

Green Winged Teal - Length 15 inches - Weight 14 ounces

• As long as open water is found they will stay far north
• Smallest, most common
• Tiny size gives impression of speed
• Fly low and erratic with entire turning and twisting as one unit.

Wood Duck - length 18 1/2 inches Weight - 1 1/2 pounds

• Found in all flyways
• Found more in Atlantic and Mississippi flyways with fewest in Central
• Migrate early with most leaving by mid November
• Perch in trees

Black Duck - Length 24 inches Weight 2 3/4 pounds

• Eastern States
• Primary Atlantic flyway and lesser extent the Mississippi
• Wariest of all ducks.
• Flight is swift in small numbers

Three are of Black Duck with one showing the wing structure. One way to easy identify the Black Duck is the white wing lining with a very dark body plumage. The hen quacks while the drake kwek-kwek.

Canvasback - Length - 22 inches Weight - 3 pounds

This type of duck is normally late to start migrating south which it will do in a line or irregular V's.

• Feeding Areas - If the Canvasback flock is compact they fly indefinite formation
• Wing Beat - Rapid, Noisy
• Speed - Swiftest of all ducks

Diving Ducks

• Larger and deeper lakes, rivers, costal bays, and inlets
• Many have shorter tails
• Huge paddle feet which can be used as rudders in flight, often can be seen
• Paddle along the water before going into flight most of the time
• Diets - Fish, mollusks, aquatic plants, shellfish
• Shorter wings in proportion to body size and weight

Redhead Ducks Length - 20 inches Weight - 2 1/2 pounds

• Coast to Coast, Largest numbers in flocks
• Central Flyways
• V formation
• Seem to always be in a hurry
• Days most of time in rafts in deep water
• Morning and evening they feed in shallower water

Pictures Of Ducks

• Canvasback Duck
• Diving Duck
• Redhead Duck

The diving duck shows the formation.

Ringneck Duck - Length 17 inches Weight 2 1/2 pounds

• Often found fresh marshes, wooded ponds
• Light bands on the tip and base of bill are noticeable
• Light brown ring on neck can't see in a field

Scaup - (Greater) Length 18 1/2 inches Weight 2 pounds

(Lesser) Length 17 inches Weight 1 7/8

• Appear nearly identical except for the wing marks in a field
• Like wide open water areas (Greater)
• (Lesser) likes marshes, ponds
• Migrate late (sometimes right before freeze)
• Flocks movement rapid, erratic (often)
• Flocks most of time compact

Goldeneye (Common) Length 19 inches Weight 2 1/4 pounds

(Barrow's) Length 19 inches Weight 2 3/4 pounds

Common Eclipse Drake

• Active, very strong winged flyers
• Move single or in a group of a small flock
• Referred as whistlers since their wings make a distinctive whistling sound
• Prefer rapids, fast water
• Fly south late in the season

Barrow's Drake

• This is a western duck
• Not as weary as the Common Goldeneye Duck