Chapter 5 - Diving Ducks

Redhead | Old Squaw | Ring-Necked Duck | Greater Scaup | Lesser Scaup | Goldeneye | Bafflehead Duck | Canvasback Duck | Shoveller Duck | "Coot"

Unfortunately, the redhead, one of our grandest and once one of our most common game birds is in a serious downward cycle of abundance. He has been removed from the list of shoot-able waterfowl, and not completely due to hunting pressure. Despite the sportsmen's hard fight and cooperation from government and private agencies, the redhead's nesting areas, due to drainage and lack of water, are in bad shape.

These areas are in North and South Dakota, Utah and to some extent in southern Oregon, northern California, and particularly in the neighboring provinces of Canada. It is true that all duck species depend on the good nesting season in order to produce sufficient ducks to maintain the line. When these areas are troubled, the birds suffer. The redhead is a case in point. Cutting out the shooting of this species will never help much to bring it back, but, in times of great stress birds have to be protected by any and all means".

The only other duck that could possibly be mistaken for the redhead is the canvasback, although even a glimpse of the two birds would spell the difference. The little redhead has a round cinnamon-colored head, the canvasback's is larger and slanted into the long heavy bill.

They and the birds that follow in this chapter are classed as diving ducks, as opposed to puddle ducks of the previous chapter. Their feet are placed farther back on their bodies so that they can swim under water to get their food. As a consequence, they cannot bounce from the water as readily as, say, the mallard, but beat their wings and work their legs in the forward takeoff, in order to get into the air. As divers, they have a great deal more and varied food available to them.

Their wintering grounds are found along the East Coast from Delaware to Georgia, but the bulk of the migration centers west of the Mississippi on the Gulf Coast. They travel in V-shaped formations, though irregular bunchy flights often swing in behind the conventional wedge.

They are a prolific duck and when conditions allow, there would be no need to worry, as they lay up to ten or fifteen eggs, and sometimes two clutches a year, if conditions favor.

Although the old squaw is a duck of extremely small range, it is covered here because it is such a "cute" bird, one which, if you are lucky enough to see and photograph will offer many inspiring memories.

Their wintering grounds extend from South Carolina north to Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, breeding and summering in the very far north including the northern shores of Greenland and Iceland.

They are a small, brown and white duck with a cocky little semi-crested head and a pin tail that is haughtily waved in an almost upright position when they swim. They are a fast flying bird, working the shore in compact flocks, whizzing and buzzing the shoreline in almost snipe-like fashion.

They like the open waters as well as the bays and inland waterways. Quite often, while in search of food, they will swim the waves in a long irregular line, until some one of the group finds food. At the signal, they descend one by one to feed, but always keep a certain amount of their numbers on the water to sight danger.

They are not a good duck for the table, their food being almost ninety percent of animal origin. That, combined with their salt water haunt, makes them a duck to see, appreciate and enjoy rather than to shoot, unless a specimen is wanted for mounting purposes. Many states have this bird off the hunting list, so, as in all cases, each season, check with the game laws. The sighting of these ducks will be a pleasant accident. You might be out coot shooting or possibly a few might come by when you are out after canvasbacks. Conservation can do little for them, as their nesting areas are beyond control of man and their southward migration is so limited.

Three ducks which are the most difficult of all to tell apart are the ring-necked duck and the great and lesser scaup. Even experts will argue when they have the actual specimens in hand. Usually a bird book with accurate identifications is consulted.

The ring-necked duck has a black tip, a white band and a grey band on the bill. The others have light blue-grey bills as will be detailed later.

The winter plumage of the adult male consists of a black head and neck, glossed with purple iridescence, sometimes glowing a green or reddish-green sheen.

The head is marked by a crown, where the others are round headed. The breast is a shiny black without the iridescence and the belly is white. The wings are an indistinct brown-grey. The female does not wear the crest but carries the band of white on the bill. She is mostly mottled-brown in general appearance.

Their wintering grounds extend from the tip of Florida to the Carolinas and westward to the Mississippi, the greatest concentration settling along the Gulf Coast. During the summer months, you can readily find them nesting in upper New England, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. They seldom go farther north except in the midwest fly-way where they go up beyond and west of Hudson's Bay. There is a small amount of them on the West Coast along the shores of British Columbia and down into the San Francisco Bay area of California.

The ringneck is a first-class table bird, although its smaller size causes the hunter to pass it up for the larger and more popular species. It is preferred over the scaup and golden eye. The species decoy readily and generally pitch right in without fanfare or a pre-scanning trip. Many will come bulleting in at once, their little feet and fast wings momentarily set to break the flight and the water when they splash in. They are quite a sight as they hit the water. If you are lucky enough go get this picture, it will be one that will bring laughs. The ducks seem to be very clumsy at that point, especially if you are able to stop them cold in mid-flight. They flock in open formation and sometimes come into the blind in a string or all at once in a bunch like grapes.

They are essentially a freshwater duck although they do find their way to the wetlands of the coastal areas where brackish waters are present. Almost all of their food is made up of vegetation and they dive for shoots the puddle ducks cannot reach.

They are particularly nervous while feeding, floating or walking about clumsily on the ground. Why the nervousness does not apply to the times they come into the decoys we do not know, but it is fortunate for the hunter that they are so easy to attract.
They normally nest in wet, boggy places along the edges of marshes, sloughs and ponds. The actual nest is barely above the level of the water and it would seem that the eggs would be subject to wetting if the level of the water should rise from a sudden rainfall. The female lays from eight to twelve eggs. As is usual with all ducks, the mother assumes all the duties, the males having long since departed to spend the summer as bachelors, until the time of the autumn flight when they rejoin the females for the trip south.

Their fall migration starts in October and in the spring they work northward slowly, starting in April, if the weather permits. They are quite often seen in the north just as the ice goes out from the lakes.

Telling the greater scaup and the lesser scaup apart is quite a chore for the accurate bird watcher and naturalist. Few duck hunters can tell them apart in flight or on the water unless they know the markings well and the light is exceptionally good.

The difference between the greater and lesser scaup is in the markings of the wings. The white band of color along the wings continues into the tip flight feathers on the greater scaup, but does not go beyond the bend of the wing in the lesser.

Other than this, they are identical in markings, both having light blue-grey bills. The female of both types has a white band between the bill and the eye, but this is not found on either of the males. The female of the ringneck has a narrow white band on the base of the bill but not in the feathers. The flight feathers on the ringneck do not have any white. Sitting on the water together it would be quite difficult to tell them apart.

The greater scaup winters along the West Coast as far south as central California and summers in northwest Canada and most of Alaska. The lesser scaup covers this area, plus the Eastern Seaboard from New England south to the West Indies, and Mexico.

Scaups fly in a rapid pace, in compact formation, without the form of a V and seldom in long strings. When they fly by the blind in full speed the noise from their wings sounds like a hurricane wind whistling through the trees. They often fly at great height during the migration, coming down at dusk or just after nightfall, thus avoiding the gunners.

They are both favorites of the hunter because of their numbers. The best way to attract them is with decoys of their coloration. Large rafts of decoys are used rather than just a few, as in the case of the puddle ducks.

Their food is one-half vegetable and one-half animal, so their diet is not a restricting factor in their choice of location for breeding purposes.

Periodically, slight variances in their number occur, but it is supposed that they are in no great danger of reaching dangerously low levels.
 

The goldeneye is widely and aptly called the "whistler" or "whistlewing," due to the high pitched, vibrant swishing sounds made by its wings during flight. It is widely distributed across our land and into Canada, being scarce in the Southwest. Its nearest relative is the Barrow's goldeneye, a bird with very similar markings.

The goldeneye sports a shiny blue-green head, supported by a white neck and breast. The "eye" is a white circular spot located below the eye and just behind the bill. Small as it is, it is readily seen from quite a distance even in bad light. The similar mark on the Barrow's is more triangular in shape. Both species have a broad patch of white against the black-brown on the wing. The two species are found in the Northeast and Northwest, the Barrow's being limited exclusively to these areas.

In flight they can be seen for a great distance as a black and white bird whisking along at great speed. They are a hardy duck migrating north to the lakes of Maine, where the author has seen them while salmon fishing, the moment the ice has left the lakes.

Small bands of them will fly past the boat, travelling up and down the linking streams between the lakes. They are a friendly duck and are easily decoyed into a blind.
Watching them while at play is a humorous experience, for they seem to enjoy life to the fullest, dabbling, tipping up, diving, fanning their wings and chattering incessantly.

They prefer a lake that is surrounded by trees, for they, like the woodchuck, seem to prefer to nest just off the ground, preferably in a dead stump. They have been known to start building a nest in a boat tied along the shore.

Goldens are not of the best eating variety, feeding on bugs, crustaceans, including crabs, snails, mollusks and fishes.

When migrating they fly in small flocks or in a bunch. They like the high altitudes and make a pretty sight flashing black and white way up there in the blue.

Since the food of the bufflehead duck is almost all animal, it is not sought after by hunters to the same degree as most other ducks. It is a beautiful little bird, presenting flashes of black and white in flight and on the water. Smaller than most ducks yet larger than the teal, they are seen in broken flocks, usually not too high above the water. Like the old squaws, they feed in platoons, always reserving a few ducks above the water for danger lookouts. They seem to be able to alternate feeders and watchers in quite a regulated rhythm.

The main identifying feature of the bufflehead is the large white patch on the head, readily distinguishable from the little spot worn by the goldeneye. The head is semi-crested. The neck and breast are white, the wings black, except for a small section of white.

They become quite frightened when approached and are very active when feeding or playing. They constantly duck, fan their wings and take off in small flights over the water, to return again to the same spot. Their flight in singles or pairs is quite direct unless they sense danger. They can take off from the water with surprising ease, since they are of the diving duck variety, which usually has to fight gravity during the forward take-off. They ride high on the water and are perky, quick moving and lively.

When they dive they are as adept as the grebes and mergansers, holding the wings in close to the body. They can stay underwater quite a time, and swim away from danger quickly that way.

They belong to the small group of tree-nesting ducks and their eggs are laid in abandoned flicker nests and other tree holes. Only when forced by circumstance will they nest on the ground, and even then will try and build in a bush if there is one handy.

Their distribution is wide, the only blank in the map being the central Midwest. They nest as far north as southern Alaska and down into Ontario and west to the Pacific. Their southern home overlaps in Oregon and Washington and they are found as far south as the Mexican border and the Gulf States, skipping Florida for the most part.

Their migration takes place in the middle of the fall and they fly north just as soon as the ice is gone in the northern lakes. Their habits are similar to the goldeneye.

To the hunter, the mere mention of the canvasback duck conjures up the sight of rafts of a hundred decoys, grouped around a sink box or skillfully camouflaged duck boat, in open water, with cold, windy, dreary weather and flights of canvas-backs streaking across the sky.

Colored and shaped somewhat like the redhead, except for the larger shape that is angular instead of round, the canvasback sports a big heavy bill. Their tails are black. The basic body and wings are canvas-grey in color. The breast is black and the head and neck the typical amber-cinnamon. Seen together, they are readily distinguishable from the smaller redhead.

It is exclusively a North American species and is not found even as a straggler in any other country. Its numbers and availability have made it famous among duck hunters on both coasts, the heaviest concentration being on the East Coast from New England south across Georgia, skipping Florida and along the Gulf Coast down into Mexico. The West Coast has a lesser flight that extends up into British Columbia. They nest from Utah and Nebraska up into the prairie provinces of Western Canada using all three flyways for their migrations north and south. The Great Lakes region gets a late migration in the fall and much hunting is done for them in that section.

One of the best ways to obtain photos of these ducks is to accompany a duck hunter in his duck boat and wait for the flocks to fly overhead. Quite often a smart hunter will allow the first flock to "sit in" with the blocks in order to attract a larger flock. When they light, they look over the blocks and then disregard them entirely, not being perturbed that they are fakes. Unless something scares them, they will stay for a while, and at a given signal from one of the leaders will all take flight at the same instant.

They have maintained their numbers, despite bad conditions in the nesting grounds due to low or non-existent water. They have fared much better than the redhead duck, which is now off the shooting list, yet the canvasback nests in the same general areas.

Their numbers have diminished in the past few years, as have almost all the ducks, but seem to indicate no trouble in the near future.

The shoveller duck is not too common and is protected in most states from hunting. At first sight, way off from the blind, his green head makes you think he is a mallard, but as he comes closer his wing beats and size show him to be what he is. A closer look shows the tremendous beak, almost twice the size of the mallard's. His breast is white, rather than russet, as the mallard. His flanks are a reddish-cinnamon. His wings are colored somewhat like the greenwing teal, with the large light-blue patch on the first section of the wing.

The female is colored about like the female mallard, and the only way to distinguish them is by the long bill worn by the shoveller.

They are sporadic on the East Coast, their biggest flyway being the West Coast and inland to Utah from British Columbia to central Mexico.

The common name "coot," has been used here, as duck hunters and amateur bird spotters give this name to three species of scoters.

The white-winged scoter, surf scoter and American scoter are birds of one distinct class with special habits. They are sometimes found intermingled in the same flock and duck hunters have difficulty identifying one or the other as they approach the blind.

While some people eat coot, their meat is about the worst tasting of all the ducks. I have hunted them with friends who were excited about the sport. I went along just to see the fun but, frankly, couldn't find it. Certainly, after the first bite, I passed up the coot dinner.

All three species are found on both coasts from eastern Canada to Virginia, and from British Columbia to California. They are tough birds resisting the foul weather of the north until it practically forces them southward. Their flight is usually just above the waves. They come into the blind head-on and look as if they were going to crash into your duck boat. Their speed is fast and their flight direct.

The American scoter is black all over except for a bright orange "bubble" at the top of the bill. The female is dark brown. The white-winged scoter is marked about the same, but with a small patch of white on the first section of the wing. The surf scoter is all dingy black, but with a patch of white on the back of the head and upper neck, and another white patch on the "cap" of the head. The bill is orange and white, with a decided black circular spot at its base. The legs of the others are black, but the surf scoter's are a dull orange.

The whitewing is the largest and probably the most common of the trio and the one most coveted by hunters. Their flight is direct, heavy and dull. They usually travel in bunches, but alternate from bunched-up gatherings to long single lines.

They are slow taking off from the water, usually needing a good headwind and lots of runway space that is smooth for the take-off. Watching them try to take off in a rough sea is quite an experience, for the waves will slap at them just as they are about to become free.

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