If you should rear a duck in the heart of the Sahara…
If you should rear a duck in the heart of the Sahara, no doubt it would swim if you brought it to the Nile.
A Mark Twain quote
Bewick's Swan: Have you seen this bird?
Bewick’s Swan
Bewick’s Swan (Cygnus columbianus) is a small Holarctic swan. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species, Cygnus bewickii (Bewick’s Swan) of the Palaearctic and the Whistling Swan, C. columbianus proper, of the Nearctic.
Bewick’s Swan is the smallest of the Holarctic swans, in length, wingspan and weight.
Bewick’s Swans have high-pitched honking calls and sound similar to a black goose (Branta).
Identification Tips:
• Length: 36 inches Wingspan: 85 inches
• Large, long-necked waterbird with short legs and a short duck-like bill
• Long neck held straight up with a kink at base
Adult:
• Black bill with variably-sized yellow spot at base
• Culmen somewhat concave
• Black of bill extends up to eye but does not encircle it
• Straight demarcation on forehead between black bill and white feathering
• Black legs and feet
• Entirely white plumage
Similar species:
The very large Bewick’s Swan is unlikely to be confused with anything but other swans.
As their name implies, Bewick’s Swan breeds in the Arctic and subarctic tundra. They inhabit shallow pools, lakes and rivers. These birds are migratory birds. The winter habitat is grassland and marshland, often near the coast. They like to visit fields after harvest to feed on discarded grains and while on migration may stop over on mountain lakes.
If you should rear a duck in the heart of the Sahara, no doubt it would swim if you brought it to the Nile.
A Mark Twain quote
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If you should rear a duck in the heart of the Sahara, no doubt it would swim if you brought it to the Nile.
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Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck, leads the flock…
Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow.
A Chinese proverb
Northern Shoveler (Anas_clypeata): Have you seen this bird?
Northern Shoveler
The Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata), sometimes known simply as the Shoveler, is a common and widespread duck.
Like most dabbling ducks, it stands well apart from such species as the Mallard and together with the other shovelers and their relatives forms a “blue-winged” group.
Identification Tips:
• Length: 14 inches Wingspan: 31 inches
• Large dabbling duck
• Large spatulate bill
• Juvenile similar to adult female
Adult male alternate:
• Alternate plumage worn from fall through early summer
• Black bill
• Eyes yellow
• Green head
• White lower neck, breast, and tail
• Rusty underbody with white band on hind flanks
• Dark back, with elongated white scapulars
• Pale blue upper secondary coverts
• Green speculum with white leading and trailing edges
Adult male basic
• Similar to adult female
Adult female:
• Eyes brown
• Orange bill with dusky patches
• Mottled brown and buff head, neck and back
• Dusky blue upper secondary coverts
• Dull green speculum with white fore border
Similar species:
Large, spatulate bill makes the Northern Shoveler immediately recognizable in all plumages.
This species is unmistakable in the northern hemisphere due to its large spatulate bill.
It breeds in northern areas of Europe and Asia and across most of North America and is a rare vagrant to Australia.
This is a bird of open wetlands, such as wet grassland or marshes with some emergent vegetation.
This dabbling duck is strongly migratory and winters further south than its breeding range. There have been reports of them as far as Australia. The Northern Shoveler is not as gregarious as some dabbling ducks outside the breeding season and tends to form only small flocks.
Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow.
A Chinese proverb
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Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow.
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Lame Duck
Lame Duck
A saying, quote, dictionary term
Cultural Dictionary definition
lame duck
A public official or administration serving out a term in office after having been defeated for reelection or when not seeking reelection.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
There are several other very similar definitions of this common saying.
lame duck
–noun
1. an elected official or group of officials, as a legislator, continuing in office during the period between an election defeat and a successor’s assumption of office.
2. a president who is completing a term of office and chooses not to run or is ineligible to run for reelection.
3. a person finishing a term of employment after a replacement has been chosen.
4. anything soon to be supplanted by another that is more efficient, economical, etc.
5. a person or thing that is disabled, helpless, ineffective, or inefficient.
6. a person who has lost a great deal of money in speculations on the stock market.
Origin:
1755–65
Related forms:
lame-duck, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Bufflehead (duck): Have you seen this bird?
Bufflehead (duck)
The Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) is a small American sea duck of the genus Bucephala, the goldeneyes.
The name Bufflehead is a combination of buffalo and head, referring to the oddly bulbous head shape of the species. This is most noticeable when the male puffs out the feathers on the head, thus greatly increasing the apparent size of the head.
The Bufflehead are migratory. Most of them winter in protected coastal waters, or open inland waters, on the east and west coasts of North America and the southern United States.
Their breeding habitat is wooded lakes and ponds in Alaska and Canada, almost entirely included in the boreal forest or taiga habitat.
These diving birds forage underwater. In freshwater habitats Bufflehead ducks eat primarily insects. In saltwater this bird feeds predominantly on crustaceans and mollusks. Aquatic plants and fish eggs are often locally important food for them as well.
They nest in cavities in trees, often using old Flicker or Pileated Woodpecker nests. These old nests are occasionally about 1400 ft from water.
Buffleheads do not tend to collect in huge flocks. Groups are usually limited to small numbers of less than 10. One duck will serve as a sentry, watching for predators as the others in the group dive in search of food.
Lame Duck
A saying, quote, dictionary term
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Lame Duck
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It rolled like water off a duck’s back
It rolled like water off a duck’s back.
A proverb
Blue-Winged Teal: Have you seen this bird?
Blue-Winged Teal (duck)
The Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors) is a small dabbling duck.
Their breeding habitat is marshes and ponds throughout north and central North America. Their range is all of North America except western and northern Alaska, and the highest parts of the continent. They are rare in the desert southwest, and the west coast.
Identification Tips:
• Length: 11 inches Wingspan: 24 inches
• Small dabbling duck
• Medium-sized bill without spatulate tip
• Pale blue upper secondary coverts
• Green speculum with white leading edge
• Dark bill
• Juvenile similar to adult female
Adult male alternate:
• Alternate plumage worn from early winter through early summer
• Blue-gray head with darker cap
• White crescent on face in front of eye
• Buff breast and flanks with darker spotting
• White band at rear portion of flanks
• Black undertail coverts
Adult male basic
• Similar to adult female, but forewing brighter
Adult female:
• Pale head
• Dark crown and eye line
• Pale eye ring, and loral spot
• Mottled gray-brown body plumage with darker back
Similar species:
Adult in alternate plumage is unmistakable. Female, immature and eclipse male similar to Green-winged and Cinnamon Teals. Note the small size and small bill of the Green-winged Teals as well as the green speculum. Cinnamon Teal is very difficult to distinguish in some (female) plumages, but note the smaller bill without a spatulate tip and the more distinct facial pattern (pale loral spot and more distinct eye line) of the Blue-winged Teal.
They migrate in flocks to Central and South America. Some birds winter on the Gulf Coast and coastal California.
Blue-winged Teals feed by dabbling in shallow water at the edge of marshes or open water[2]. They mainly eat plants; their diet may include mollusks and aquatic insects.
It rolled like water off a duck’s back.
A proverb
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It rolled like water off a duck’s back.
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Like a duck out of water
Like a duck out of water.
A proverb
Mottled Duck: Have you seen this bird?
Mottled Duck
The Mottled Duck (Anas fulvigula[1]) or Mottled Mallard is a medium-sized dabbling duck.
There are two distinct populations of Mottled Ducks. One population, A. fulvigula maculosa (Mottled Duck), lives on the Gulf of Mexico coast. The other, A. fulvigula fulvigula (Florida Duck) is resident in central and south Florida and occasionally strays north to Georgia.
Identification Tips:
• Length: 15 inches
• Sexes similar
• Large dabbling duck
• Yellow bill
• Pale buff brown head
• Darker brown cap and eye line
• Mottled dark brown and buff back and upperwing coverts
• Blue-green speculum with white bar along trailing edge
Similar species:
American Black Duck is similar with broader brown edgings to upperparts and a bluer speculum. Female, immature and eclipse male Mallards always have blue speculums with white borders to both the front and rear margins. Beware of hybrid Mallard x Black Ducks that are usually paler than Black Ducks, with blue speculums and usually with white borders on one or both edges of the speculum.
Along the Gulf of Mexico coast, the Mottled Duck is one of the most frequently banded waterfowl. This is due in part to the fact that the Mottled Duck is mostly non-migratory. Approximately one out of every twenty mottled ducks is banded, making it an extremely prized and sought after bird among hunters.
Mottled Ducks feed by dabbling in shallow water, and grazing on land. They mainly eat plants, but also some mollusks and aquatic insects.
Their breeding habitat is coastal marshes.
Like a duck out of water.
A proverb
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Like a duck out of water.
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