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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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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Happy as a duck in water
Happy as a duck in water.
A proverb
American Wigeon male (drake): Have you seen this bird?
American Wigeon (duck)
The American Wigeon (also American Widgeon or Baldpate), Anas americana is a species of wigeon in the dabbling duck genus Anas.
It is a common and widespread duck. This dabbling duck is migratory and winters farther south than its breeding range.
Identification Tips:
• Length: 14 inches Wingspan: 34 inches
• Large dabbling duck
• Blue bill with black nail
• White secondary coverts (grayer in females) and green speculum
• White axillars
• White belly
• Juvenile similar to adult female
Adult male alternate:
• Alternate plumage worn from fall through early summer
• White crown
• Green post-ocular stripe
• Streaked gray lower face and neck
• Rusty breast and flanks
• Dark brown back
• White patch at rear portion of flanks
• Black undertail coverts
Adult male basic:
• Similar to adult female but usually retains rusty flanks and white forewing
Adult female:
• Blue bill with black tip
• Mottled dark brown body plumage with rustier flanks contrasting with paler head and neck
• Dusky eye patch
Similar species:
Adult in alternate plumage is unmistakable. All plumages distinguished from all other dabbling ducks (except Eurasian Wigeon) by pale gray or white secondary coverts in flight. At rest Wigeon have a distinctive steep forehead and gently sloped rear part of the head, as well as pale blue bills. The rare Eurasian Wigeon is very similar in female, immature and eclipse male plumages and is safely distinguished only in flight by its gray, not white, axillars.
It is a bird of open wetlands, such as wet grassland or marshes with some taller vegetation, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing.
It nests on the ground, near water and under cover.
The American Wigeon is a noisy species. It is a rare but regular vagrant to western Europe. It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and will form large flocks.
Happy as a duck in water.
A proverb
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It’s as hard to see a woman crying as it is to see a barefooted duck.
It’s as hard to see a woman crying as it is to see a barefooted duck.
An Irish proverb
Fulvous Whistling-duck
Fulvous Whistling Duck
The Fulvous Whistling Duck, Dendrocygna bicolor, is a whistling duck which breeds across the world’s tropical regions in much of Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and the Gulf Coast of the United States.
This species is gregarious, and at favoured sites substantial flocks can form. As the name implies, these are noisy birds with a clear whistling kee-wee-ooo call.
Identification Tips:
• Length: 13 inches Wingspan: 36 inches
• Large, long-legged, long-necked duck
• Sexes similar
Adult:
• Dark bill
• Dark legs
• Rich buff head, neck, chest and belly
• Black back with chestnut edging to feathers
• White flank stripe
• White rump and undertail coverts
• Dark tail
• Wings dark with chestnut upperwing coverts visible in flight
Similar species:
Adult is unmistakable. Immature could be confused with immature Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, but note the dark rump, white wing stripe, and the lack of white flank stripe in the latter.
Its habitat is still freshwater lakes, paddy fields or reservoirs with plentiful vegetation, where this duck feeds mainly at night on seeds and other parts of plants.
This species is gregarious, and at favored sites substantial flocks can form. As the name implies, these are noisy birds with a clear whistling kee-wee-ooo call.
It’s as hard to see a woman crying as it is to see a barefooted duck.
An Irish proverb
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Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling…
Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath.
A Michael Caine quotation
Black Duck female with ducklings
Black Duck
The American Black Duck (Anas rubripes) is a large dabbling duck.
The behaviour and voice are the same as for Mallard Drake.
Breeding: Their breeding habitat is lakes, ponds, rivers, marshes and other aquatic environments in eastern Canada and the Adirondacks in the U.S.
Identification Tips:
• Length: 16 inches Wingspan: 36 inches
• Large dabbling duck
• Pale gray-brown face
• Dark brown cap and eye line
• Dark brown breast, belly, back and upper wing
• Purple speculum without white borders
• Bright silvery wing linings
• Immature similar to adult
Adult male:
• Greenish-yellow bill
• Legs frequently bright red
Adult female:
• Greenish bill with black patches
• Legs generally orange
Similar species:
Female, immature and eclipse male Mallards are much paler, with no contrast between head and body. Hybrid Mallard x Black Ducks are often seen and usually have traces of the mallard plumage, with bluer speculum usually bordered with white on one or both edges. Mottled Duck is similar.
This species is partially migratory and many winter in the east-central United States, especially coastal areas.
These birds feed by dabbling in shallow water, and grazing on land. They mainly eat plants, but also some mollusks and aquatic insects.
The Black Duck has long been valued as a game bird, being quite wary and fast on the wing. Although not of great concern, it is slowly declining due to habitat destruction.
Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath.
A Michael Caine quotation
Bird Quotation Popularity Poll
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Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath.
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