Throughout my birding career, which spans more than forty years, ring-necked ducks have usually been "also rans" on my field trips. Best identified by the prominent white ring on their bills (they should be called "ring-billed ducks"), they have generally been outnumbered by other waterfowl species.
Yesterday, on an afternoon walk at South Platte Park, the tables were turned. While the largest lake was mostly iced over, smaller ponds had thawed and ring-necked ducks (totaling 83) were more than twice as numerous as the runner-up (northern shovelers). Prior to that field trip, I had seen no more than six ring-necks at any location during the current winter waterfowl season.
After breeding across Canada, the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes region and northern New England, where they prefer freshwater, woodland lakes, ring-necked ducks generally spend the winter across the southern half of the U.S. or farther south in Central America. Though they are diving ducks, feeding on aquatic plants and invertebrates, they also feed in shallow water and may even scour flooded fields for waste grain. Yesterday's incursion was a special treat for me but nowhere near the record for Colorado (1400) or for Arapahoe County (413), as documented on eBird.
Yesterday, on an afternoon walk at South Platte Park, the tables were turned. While the largest lake was mostly iced over, smaller ponds had thawed and ring-necked ducks (totaling 83) were more than twice as numerous as the runner-up (northern shovelers). Prior to that field trip, I had seen no more than six ring-necks at any location during the current winter waterfowl season.
After breeding across Canada, the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes region and northern New England, where they prefer freshwater, woodland lakes, ring-necked ducks generally spend the winter across the southern half of the U.S. or farther south in Central America. Though they are diving ducks, feeding on aquatic plants and invertebrates, they also feed in shallow water and may even scour flooded fields for waste grain. Yesterday's incursion was a special treat for me but nowhere near the record for Colorado (1400) or for Arapahoe County (413), as documented on eBird.
