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Wood Duck

Some duck lovers will tell you about the extent of the Wood Duck's (Aix sponsa) beauty! In fact, this North American species is known as one of the most beautiful ducks in the world. The breeding plumage that the drake wears from October to June, surpasses the other ducks' in beauty, while the female, a hint less bright for sure, is nonetheless, the most colourful of her cousins. From a distance, the drake's chest and body look dark with pale flanks, a striped crest and a pale throat. With a closer look, its feathers are in fact iridescent, its beak black, red and white, and its eyes are remarkably red. The female displays a white surface around the eyes, including a pretty white tear close to its eye, a pale throat, and a shorter crest. In flight, the drake and the female orient their crest downward and are easy to recognize with their large, long square-shaped tail! The wood duck is set apart from its cousins because of its anterior vanes that look like it was sprayed with aluminum paint. The ducklings also stand out with their thinner, pointier, smoother and less bright wings during their first years of life.

Wood ducks are located in every province of Canada. Most of the time, wood ducks migrate to the United States in a really sparse manner, however, some winter in the extreme southern part of Ontario and in the south east of British Columbia.

This duck species is herbivorous or vegetarian. It eats common duckweed, truncheon small pieces, carex, grass, pondweeds, acorns and corn. Quickly after they are born, the ducklings need to eat proteins to maximize their growth.

In April, after a long winter, the wood duck migrates into its breeding land. Couples can come together in winter lands, before or during spring migration and at the nest location. Females often return near their place of birth to give birth sometimes accompanied by a drake from a farther region. The nests, preferably in trunk holes found in hollow trees, are located 1 to 15 meters above the ground. They are often close to a water body. Females are ready to reproduce at the age of one, once their nest is covered of down which the duck pulled out of its own chest. It lays 8 to 15 eggs that are dull white to cream yellow. The incubation period lasts 28 to 30 days. Once the eggs hatch, the little ducklings are already called to climb the nest entrance and fall down on the ground, most of the time unharmed. Later, the female leads them to the closest water body where they'll stay together for the next 8 to 9 weeks to feed. Soon after the incubation, the male wood duck, weary of the familial nest, will take more time with other drakes away from the nest and will search for an isolate, calm place, far from the nest to begin its mutation period. In August, their magnificent spring feathers will make way for a dull female-look-a-like plumage. The female will do the same a little after the ducklings' first flight. In the end of summer, the ducklings are ready to undertake the north part of their zone to pile on energy as fat for the autumn migration. 

Ruddy Duck

The male Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) is a small diving duck with a long tail, bright auburn feathers, white cheeks and a black cap and crown. The auburn abdomen is striped with white as well as the under tail covert. The white wing linings have dark grey remex. Its beak is blue and concave, its eyes black and its feet grey. The female is more dull-coloured compared to the drake. It has a dark brown forehead and a matching crown, a whitish head with a dark brown stripe across the cheeks, brown stripes, and a dark beak.

Ruddy ducks reproduce in the west of North America from the north east to Mexico in soft water lakes where the vegetation is lush. It can usually be found in brackish marshes. This species winters from southern Canada to the southern part of the United States, in northern Central America as well as in the Caribbeans.

The ruddy duck's nest is located in marsh vegetation and built slowly in accordance with the laying. The female lays one egg a day up to 5 to 10 eggs. It also lays eggs in the nest of its pairs and in the nest of other species. The incubation period lasts 22 to 26 days and only the female sits on the eggs. The ducklings are precocial and leave the nest the day they are born.

Ruddy ducks eat plants, seeds, roots, aphid larvae, crustaceans and aquatic insects.

Ring-necked Duck

The ring-necked duck (Aythya collaris) is a small average-size diving duck. The drake has a grey stripe on his wing, a dark back, a white-ringed beak, and a brown collar hardly noticeable. The female ring-necked duck is brown, has a white circle around the eye, and displays a white ring on the beak too.

The ring-necked duck is one of Canada's birds that migrate the latest. It likes peat bogs and shallow lakes surrounded by lots of conifers. It reproduces in northern marshes, in precambrian region wooded areas, and since a few years in the eastern territory of Canada. They can be found in the north of the United States too. Finally, it winters as far as Panama.

Ring-necked duck couples are monogamous. The nest is built by the female duck and located on dry land, most of the time in a clumb of scrubs close to a lake or a marsh. It is composed of grass, twigs, plants, and also of down. The female usually lays 8 to 10 eggs which she will sit on for about 30 days. Soon after the laying the female takes her ducklings to the nearest body of water and leaves them two months only after their birth.

The ring-necked duck eats aquatic plants, insects, molluscs, worms, and small fish.

Ringed Teal

The Ringed Teal drake (Calonetta leucophrys) is a small duck with chestnut plumage on its back and has easily identifiable magnificent brownish red scapulars. Moreover, it has grey flanks and a black-spotted salmon pink chest. It displays a black band from its blue beak to its nape: that is why it is called ringed teal. The female has a duller plumage: dark brown on its body superior part and a little brighter brown on its inferior part with thin white feathers. Juveniles obtain their complete adult plumage when they turn one.

The ringed teal is from South America: Paraguay, south west and south Brazil, north east Argentina and Uruguay. It nests close to ponds as well as close to small streams, or else in tropical forests always close to water bodies. This species is very cold sensitive.

When it is two years old, the female ringed teal is ready to reproduce. The breeding period begins from March to July. The female usually lays 6 to 8 eggs that are sat on for 26 to 28 days. The drake plays a role in raising the ducklings, but it does not sit on eggs. Nevertheless, it carefully watches the nest, the female, and the ducklings.

The ringed teal species eats wheat, granules, and various invertebrates.

Redhead Duck

Very similar to its white-back cousin, the Redhead (Aytha americana) is a big diving duck with a grey back, white chest, brown almost red head, black neck and throat. Close up, its head seems inflated, its forehead goes straight up and its beak is wide and short. The adult female is as big as a big drake: its head is brown and its feathers too, its chest is white, its chin whitish, its forehead goes straight up, its beak is wide and short and its wings are pearl grey spotted. In autumn, young ducks look like the adult female apart from their chest which is more of a dull greyish brown. The period when the young redhead females finally put on their adult plumage is from November to February.

The redhead nests close to exposed water bodies and during the migration period, it can be found in large groups far from the Great Lakes' borders and bays. To eat, this species prefers shallow water bodies where aquatic vegetation is really dense. It eats surface vegetation. During reproduction, the redhead is found especially in the Canadian Prairies and in the Great Plains of the United States. During Winter, it lives in Mexico's Gulf, on the Pacific and Atlantic's coasts, and on canadian or american land. 

In the end of winter, large male groups try charming a female. During this period, the adult drake’s voice is unique to draw its partner to him. Once the couples are together, the drake leads the female to the place of reproduction, which is usually near where the female was raised. Females lay their eggs late in June or July, usually in well-hidden nests in vegetation that sticks out of water. The redhead nests are composed of reed or cattail leaves and are really deep and covered with down. The brood vary between 6 and 27 eggs! A quantity like this can be found in a unique location, but this only happens because it lays eggs in other nests! Finally, the incubation of the pale olive or cream buff eggs lasts about 24 days. Only the female takes care of the incubation period. As early as their first day, the ducklings are led towards exposed water bodies where they will feed. The ducklings stay with their mother until they can fly (approximately 70 days). In early autumn, the ducklings decide whether they follow their parents or not for the wintering period.

Red-breasted Merganser

The Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator Linnaeus) can be distinguished from the common mergansers in a mixed group because of its smaller size. The red-breasted male merganser can be distinguished from the common merganser because of its tousled crest, its white collar, and its striped chest while the female is differentiated by its paler head and neck as well as its white chin and white front neck. In flight, the adult drake has the wing top marked with a white square partly crossed with two black lines. The eclipsed male looks like the female, but it keeps its alar pattern. The female displays a white square partly crossed by one black line on the internal secondaries and on the big coverts. The ducklings look like the adult female.

This species nests in forests close to water bodies and in covert coastal zones. It is abundant while migrating in the Great Lakes where a moderate group winters. It is also quite common elsewhere within the upcountry, mostly in brackish and salted waters during winter.

During its nesting period, the red-breasted merganser builds its nest on the ground. When appropriate, bushes, low tree branches, and rock holes are its shelter. The female is the only one who takes care of the incubation period that lasts 28 to 31 days and lays an average of 8 eggs. The drake leaves the nest immediately after the laying to undertake its mutation elsewhere. The precocial ducklings step in the water as soon as their shell breaks.

Finally, the red-breasted duck, an aquatic duck, eats mostly fish, molluscs, crustaceans, and aquatic insects, but it sometimes eats vegetable matter like its cousins. X

Northern Shoveler

The Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) looks like the mallard because of its colours, but it is smaller and belongs to another species. Its spatula-shaped beak is longer than its head. The drake has a bottle green head, a white chest, brown flanks in early autumn, and a white crescent marked face like the blue-winged teal. The female has a greyish beak and an orange-coloured mandible. In flight, both sexes show blue top coverts.

It is a common and abundant species in western America and it seems to be increasing in number in the east. It lives in marshes, ponds, and coves because it likes soft and brackish water. For the winter period, it looks for maritime coasts.

Pair formation occurs during winter. In their nesting zone, the nest is placed on the ground close to water and covered with the female's down. The female lays 8 to 12 eggs around April and May, which have an incubation period of 22 to 23 days. The northern shoveler ducklings are raised by their mother and usually fly for the first time when they are six weeks old. Contrary to other species’ drakes, northern shoveler drakes protect the nest for several days after the laying. This is a behaviour that can be explained by their way of eating which takes them much more time than other species. In fact, the northern shoveler's beak is spatula-shaped and fitted to catch food. It continually sucks in and filters water, which is rejected, and keeps edible particles. It eats vegetal matter and small aquatic animals like crustaceans, molluscs, and planktons.