ducks

Red-breasted Merganser

This unusual-looking duck is called the Red-breasted Merganser, and it only visits Florida during the winter. While this bird usually breeds in the northern coastal regions of Canada, this diving duck flies as far as our home state and Mexico across the Gulf.
In Florida, they make their home in brackish or saltwater sources such as estuaries, bays, lakes, and rivers.
The Red-breasted Merganser is easily identifiable from its fluffy crest, which both males and females have. Breeding males tend to have more color and brighter patterning with black and white plumage, brown-spotted breast, and bright white collar. Though the females are duller brown and gray, both sexes sport red eyes and beaks. Sexually immature males will appear more like females until they reach adulthood at about 2 years of age. The red beak is not just for looks; the bill is serrated and used to catch fish.
The Red-breasted Merganser dives from the surface to catch its prey. To support its energy usage, it must catch roughly 20 fish per day. This duck must dive over 250 times daily to catch enough fish to survive. The Red-breasted Merganser is not only a beautiful duck but a busy one.
Photo Credit: Lynn Marie
Author: Sarina Pennington, IOF Volunteer
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Feed the Ducks

– Feed the Ducks –
Many of us have grabbed a loaf of bread and headed to a pond or lake with our families to “feed the ducks.” That was before we knew it wasn’t good for them.
When ducks see us arrive with our loaf of bread, they hurry to greet us as they wait for treats. But bread is not healthy. It fills them up and provides little to no nutritional value.
Did you know that feeding ducks a high-protein, high-carbohydrate diet, which includes food such as bread, can cause a deformity known as Angel Wing? Angel Wing occurs when the wing bones grow too fast, causing joints to swivel and making the duck unable to fly. Ducks with Angel Wing cannot fly to new food sources and may be ousted from their flock.
So, what do ducks eat?
In the wild, ducks forage for snails, worms, insects, frogs, salamanders, fish and fish eggs, nuts, fruits, berries, and plants.
When we know better, we do better.
Good snack foods for ducks include lettuce, cabbage, kale, pea shoots, cucumber, corn, peas, beans, broccoli, beets, squash, flowers, alfalfa, tomatoes, eggplant, peeled bananas, pineapple, and pomegranate seeds.
Remember: Don’t let ducks become dependent on you for food or allow them to fill up on snacks, no matter how healthy they may be. Nature provides a healthy diet with all the nutrients ducks need.
Reference: Blog Education National Geographic


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Wood Duck

Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) are unique among ducks. They are boxy, with a crested head, a thin neck, and a long broad tail. They measure 18.5-21.3 inches with a wingspan of 26.0-28.7 inches and weigh 16.0-30.4 oz. In good light, males have a glossy green head that can appear iridescence with white stripes cut along the head. The breast is chestnut, and the sides are buffy. In low lights, males appear dark overall with paler sides. Females are gray-brown with white-speckled breasts. Juveniles are very similar to females. Wood Ducks have an extensive range and are found in most of the United States. Florida populations stay year-round.
Wood Ducks thrive in ponds, swamps, marshes, and lakes. Their diet consists of seeds, fruits, insects, and other arthropods. When aquatic foods are unavailable, they may travel to dry land to eat acorns and other nuts. To feed, they will take short, shallow dives. Wood Ducks are not territorial; however, a male may fight off other males approaching his mate. A mating pair may preen each other. Egg-dumping, or “intraspecific brood parasitism,” is common in Wood Ducks; females will visit other Wood Duck nesting sites to lay eggs and leave them to be raised by another female. Individuals will typically lay 10-11 eggs per clutch, but with the result of egg-dumping, some nests can have as many as 30 eggs! Even so, only 1-2 will hatch. The incubation period is 28-37 days. The eggs vary from creamy white to tan. Chicks hatch alert with a full coat of down. A day after hatching, they’ll leave the nest by jumping. The Wood Duck population has increased and is stable, making them a low conservation concern.
Photo Credit: Lynn Marie
Author: Destiny Alvarez – Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, University of Oregon
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Ring-necked Duck

The Ring-necked Duck is a commonly seen medium-sized duck that winters in Florida. After breeding in the northern United States and Canada, it migrates to the southern US.
Look closely at the picture, and you will see the brown ring around the duck’s neck. Look for Ring-necked Ducks foraging near the surface of the water for hydrilla. This diving duck finds most of its food under the water. Seeds and plants make up most of their diet. Insects, clams, and snails are an occasional treat.
Photo Credit: Dan Kon
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Blue-winged Teal

Blue-winged Teals, Spatula discors, are dabbling ducks who migrate long distances to their winter homes. These small ducks breed in Canada and the United States before heading south to places as far away as South America. They are one of the earliest migrants to arrive in Florida.
Look for Blue-winged Teals in marshes and wetlands swimming in tranquil brackish water or freshwater. They can often be seen in groups with other dabbling ducks. Their diet includes aquatic insects, snails, crustaceans, and vegetation. However, in winter, they add more seeds such as water lilies and rice to their diets. Watch Blue-winged teals find food by dipping their bills into the water or immersing their heads in the water in a “bottoms-up” posture.
Photo Credit: David Gale and KonStudio
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Hooded Merganser

Hooded Mergansers, Lophodytes cucullatus, are easy to spot with their distinctive crests. Males sport a striking black and white crest while females look regal with their copper crests. Many of these common small ducks spend their winters in Florida. Hooded Mergansers generally arrive late in the fall and leave early in the spring for northern breeding territories.
Look for small groups of Hooded Mergansers in wetlands, marshes, swamps, flooded forests, and estuaries where they thrive in shallow freshwater or brackish bays. Watch them as they dive to catch small insects, fish, amphibians, and crustaceans. See them run across the water before taking flight and skidding across the water as they land.
Fun Fact: Hooded Mergansers have an extra eyelid that is see-thru. They use this nictitating membrane like a pair of goggles when swimming.
Photo Credit: Andy Waldo and Dan Kon
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Fulvous Whistling-Duck

Fulvous Whistling-Ducks, Dendrocygna bicolor, are found year-round in rice fields in central Florida. Look for them in flooded pastures, irrigated lands, ponds, lakes, freshwater marshes, slow-moving rivers, and freshwater wetlands. Once known as the Fulvous Tree Duck, these birds roost in the trees of forested areas next to their water source. They may flock with Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks. As winter approaches, watch for them to appear in greater numbers in freshwater marshes and wetlands.
These striking caramel and black ducks with their oversized bluish-gray legs forage in water that is less than 20 inches deep. Dinner consists of mostly seeds from aquatic plants and some invertebrates. Fulvous Whistling-Ducks can be seen wading or swimming while foraging by diving, tipping up, or dabbling to find food with their bills. Their thick bills are made to filter the food from the mud. You may also find them plucking an insect from vegetation for a tasty snack.
In mid-April, Fulvous Whistling-Ducks leave their flocks to begin the mating season. Mated pairs are bonded for years and sometimes for life, although the males may sometimes mate with more than one female. Together, the male and female choose the nest site in a dense marsh above the water or on the ground near the water. They build the nest by weaving stalks and grasses into a 14-inch bowl shape that is 4.3 inches deep. Most include a ramp to the water. The clutch size is 2 – 14 eggs and the female and male share the task of incubation for 24 – 25 days. Although the young leave the nest soon after hatching, instinctually know how to swim and dive as well as forage., both parents look after them until they fledge two months later.
Photo Credit: Dan Kon
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Northern Shoveler

The Northern Shoveler, Spatula clypeata, is a wide-ranging duck species and a winter resident of Florida. After spending the summer months breeding in the west-central part of the United States running north all the way up to Alaska, Northern shovelers move south as winter approaches. But they don’t just occur in the Americas. This duck can be found across Europe and Asia, and winter down into Africa and India.
The males are strikingly colored, with green heads similar to a mallard, orange bodies, and a white chest. The females are mottled brown, similar to female mallards. But there is no mistaking these for mallards. One look at their large, flat, spoon-like bill immediately gives them away.
And it’s that very bill that allows them to feed. These ducks feed on tiny zooplankton and other small invertebrates and seeds. They sweep their head back and forth, filtering the water with tiny projections called lamellae. These lamellae work like a colander to sift out their food from the water. Oftentimes, you may observe large groups of shovelers swimming rapidly in a circle. This behavior creates a vortex that stirs food up from deeper waters allowing the group to feed.
The Northern Shoveler is one of the most common duck species found in the US. With populations over 5 million, it only trails mallards and blue wing teals for overall abundance. Found in shallow wetlands and marshes, in Florida, you can enjoy these visitors throughout the winter. They can be easily seen in places such as Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, and many other easy-to-access wetlands.
As the weather begins to cool, head out and enjoy this species, as well as all the other birds who come down to visit us during the winter months.
Photo Credit: Andy Waldo
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