Psilos Wildfowl Photography |
Ring necked duck (Aythya collaris) |
The Ring necked duck is found over the whole
of North America and into the West Indies. Their usual breeding ground
is found on sedge-meadow marshes, swamps, and bogs where the female
builds the nest on on floating islands or in open marshes. 6-14 eggs
are laid and incubation lasts for 26 to 27 days. The sexes form different
groups until it is time to pair up in March and April. Their diet consists
of tubers, seeds, aquation vegetation, insect larvae, mollusks, worms,
and crustaceans. This duck is, at present extensively hunted but their
numbers do not appear threatened. |
 |
The male in the two photos below is beginning
to lose his breeding plumage for the autumn moult. |
 |
 |
The female |
 |
 |
