Graham Workman column: USA Migrant

Just to coincide with Donald Trump’s inauguration we went chasing a rare duck from the USA that had decided to make the UK home for a while. The duck in question was a Ring-necked Duck.

As you can see from the photo I took the male Ring-necked Duck (which this one was) is a sharply marked bird of gleaming black, grey, and white. Females are rich brown with a more delicate face pattern. From a distance one of the first give away ID features is its distinctive, peaked head. Even though this species dives for its food, in the U.S. you can find it in shallow wetlands such as beaver swamps, ponds, and bays. Of all the diving duck species, the Ring-necked Duck is most likely to drop into small ponds during migration and this is exactly where this one was happily vacationing, in a very small park pond in Victory Park, St. Helens.

The name is actually quite misleading as its ‘neck ring’ is barely visible, so don’t go looking for a ring around its neck—it’s really difficult to see until it stretches its neck up for some reason. It’s much easier to ID it by looking at the bird’s ‘pointy’ head shape, white ring around the bill, and white patch just in front of the grey flanks.

This bird’s common name (and its scientific name "collaris," too) refer to the Ring-necked Duck's hard-to-see chestnut collar on its black neck. It’s not a good field ID feature to use for identifying the bird, but it jumped out to the nineteenth century ornithologists that described the species using dead specimens.

Ring-necks are definitely a duck that enjoys being in a flock of other Ring-necks During its Autumn migration, Ring-necked Ducks can form absolutely ginormous flocks. Several hundred thousand congregate each fall on certain lakes in Minnesota to feed on wild rice – can you imagine what a site that must be!!!

What the female lacks in the ‘looks’ department she more than makes up for her status of mother! She will lead the newly hatched ducklings to water 12-24 hours after they hatch; then she may lead the ducklings back to the safety and warmth of their nest at night. The nest site is usually on a dry hummock, clump of brush, or mat of floating vegetation, close to open water. The nest itself is a shallow bowl of grasses, sedges, weeds, lined with the mothers downy feathers. Unlike many diving ducks, the female and her ducklings will often hide in marshes rather than seeking safety on open water. The ducklings find their own food and are capable of flight 49-55 days after hatching. The female often remains with the ducklings until they are old enough to fly, unlike most ducks. We spent a good hour watching this one diving in between the branches of a large oak tree that had fallen into the water. It was continually diving and then 30 seconds or so popping up and the diving down again looking for mostly aquatic plants and insects. Their diet varies depending on the season and habitat.