The river species of ducks has a common characteristic feature: birds sit high on the water, raising their tail. They dive a little in search of food without diving deep. Rise of river ducks vertical, without a takeoff. They have a longer neck than diving, tail, wings are also much larger.
Pupal
The Northern Shoveling Duck has a very wide distribution area. It is easy to distinguish from congeners by a wide beak, which is noticeable from the name.
Description of duck:
- torso length – 50 cm;
- weight – about 1 kg;
- the color of the drake’s beak is black, the females are brown;
- habitat – steppe, flood meadows, treeless islets.
The drake of this breed is very beautiful. The head is dark green, has a nacreous tide, the body is white, the sides are red, the back is black. The female is painted much simpler – she is gray-brown. The reservoir can completely feed the high-noon: they eat vegetation, insects that live on the surface of the water in shallow water.
The breeding period is in April-June, after the female is engaged in incubation of eggs, and the drake leaves it. This species of ducks is very careful, hunting is difficult.
Mallard
Among the mallards there are several varieties, even extinct birds are described (for example, Mariana). Common Mallard is most loved by hunters. It is widespread in Siberia, the European part of Russia. Mallards winter in different places – from the coast of Western Europe to the Balkans, the Nile Delta.
Some ducks are sedentary, for example, in the Moscow region, Greenland has its own populations. The hunting season begins in March, by this time all the birds have already returned to their homeland. The second season begins in the autumn, when birds are fattening in the marshes.
The drakes have a strong body up to 50 cm long. On the neck there is a white edging in the form of a ring. Neck, emerald head drakes, females are not endowed with such a beautiful insert. Ducks are usually much smaller in size, brown with variegated patches. Ducks nest in April, building houses in the reed, in the same place hatches ducklings.
Males at this time are very careless, they can allow hunters to come close to them. Juveniles are growing rapidly, and by October-November, it is also suitable for game.
Black Mallard
This mallard subtype was recently isolated by scientists from the general group. They live from the Far East to Siberia, are also waterfowl, belong to the river. In terms of weight and length, they resemble ordinary mallards, but have yellow spots at the bottom of the beak. Drakes are the same with ducks, there is no difference in plumage. When flying in birds you can see white spots on the wings.
Signs of black mallards:
- wing length – 24-29 cm;
- weight – 0.7-1.5 kg;
- males are larger than females;
- the back is dark brown, has red spots, the sides are lighter, the bottom is dirty white, the chest is slightly darker;
- the head is red-brown, from the back of the head to the beak there are light stripes.
Pintail
Pintail duck is also common in Europe, Russia, only the polar zone cannot boast of its appearance. The drakes are large, they have a dense constitution, their size is up to 60 cm, and the weight is about 1 kg. Ducks – less, up to 50 cm long. Females – more inconspicuous, light gray, have dark specks. A drake has a coffee head, a white neck, a light strip rises up to the back of the head. The body is gray, the tail is awl-shaped (he gave the name to the species). In flight, pintail whistles, such a sound make wings. For nesting birds choose dry open spaces.
Teal-whistle
In the group of teals, this duck is the largest in number. The name of the teal-whistle received because of the special sounds that it makes (“teal-teal”).
The size of the duck is small (35 cm maximum), the wings are pointed, allowing you to soar vertically upwards. The whistle is a short-necked bird with a large head.
During the breeding season, the male whistle is very attractive – it has a bright color, an emerald strip on the head.
After molting, males become the same as females – gray-brown, faded. When dancing during the mating season, teals often and strongly whistle.
Crackle teal
From the previous fellow teal-crackler has a white stripe on the head. The duck of this species is small, up to 34-40 cm, weighs only 300-500 g, its wingspan is up to 69 cm. The head of the drake is dark-brown, the bottom of the body is chocolate, it has white varieties. Top – dark olive with gray light, tail – brown. The female is monophonic, dark brown above, whitish below.
Features of the form:
- noisy mating games;
- flight – maneuverable, fast, without sounds;
- takeoff without a run;
- landing on the water – quiet;
- Place of settlement – open water with overgrown shores.
The crackling teal is nicknamed for the characteristic mating cry of the drake – a special dry crackling. The bird is distributed throughout Eurasia to Sakhalin, Kuriles, winters in Asia, Africa. Treskunk well tolerates bondage, well reproduces in zoos.
Marble or Narrow Teal
The name of the bird gave its marble color. It is found from Western Europe to Central Asia. The number of ducks is small, so in some countries they are included in the Red Book. In Russia, the duck lives in the Yakutsk zoo, it breeds well in captivity.
The body weight of the teal is 400-600 g. The bird is sedentary, very trusting. The duck swims with a deep dive, dives, raising the tail. The plumage is gray-brown, has bright specks. Usually teal settles on small lakes, with a mass of bushes, thickets on the banks.
A distinctive feature of a duck is the ability to sit on trees and even nest there. Wintering birds takes place on larger bodies of water.
Gray duck
Often, such a breed is called “Ukrainian gray duck.” The bird lives in the steppes, forest-steppes of Europe, North America. It looks like a mallard, pintail, a layman can confuse these types of ducks. The color of the drake is dull, it looks like a female, but in the mating season there is a difference – a scaly gray breast. Otherwise, females and males are all alike: brown head, red nadhvostiya, common yellowish-orange color.
After nesting begins, ducks settle in calm waters, swim in shallow water. They love to while away the time under the shade of coastal plants. As ducks appear, the family moves to larger bodies of water, to open water. The preferred food for gray ducks is vegetable, they consume almost no animal food.
Characteristics of the form:
- length – 46-56 cm;
- males weigh 600-1300 g, females 500-1000 g;
- wingspan – 85-95 cm.
Wake up
This duck is considered less blatant than its “relatives”. The drake has a light body, the head is brick-colored. Size – up to 50 cm. Female – smaller, uniform brown-red color with specks.
Sviyaz is so named because of the whistling sound that he makes in flight. Such a sound is characteristic only of a drake, while a duck gives only a crackling quack “Kerr”.
Duck meat is very tasty, because they often hunt for it. But in order to catch, you will have to try, because in flight the birds are very fast. Complicating shooting and vigilance ducks, so you have to safely hide and wait for them at the shore of the reservoir.
Nests are usually also built near water, in places hidden from prying eyes. Only during the preparation for the winter, sviyazi become less cautious, they are easier to shoot.
Killer whale
The killer whale (according to some sources is the killer whale) is a large wild duck weighing up to 1-1.2 kg, up to 55 cm long. The color of the females is dark chocolate, the bill is dark gray.
In drakes, the color is the same, but changes in the mating season: a green plumage appears on the sides, collar, and head. There are white feathers on the neck, some feathers on the crown darken.
Killer whales are common in Asia, Japan, the Kuriles, and central Russia. They love the plains, fresh water, flood plains.
The duck is often kept in captivity, it breeds well.
Krohali
Krohal – genus of birds from the duck family. Crohals have a long cylindrical beak with sharp teeth at the edges. They look more like loons, especially in the shape of the body and neck.
Big merganser
This duck is quite large, lives on the banks of quiet rivers, taiga lakes. The size of the large merganser has surpassed the mallard – body length reaches 66 cm, wingspan – 97 cm, maximum weight – 2.1 kg.
The mating look of the male is interesting:
- head, neck – black with green tint;
- nadhvoste, tail – dark gray;
- the trunk is white with a pinkish glow;
- the front of the back is black.
The beak of the male is bright red, the tip is bent in the form of a hook. The female is a completely different color: the head is red, the neck is brown, the throat and lower body are white, the top is gray. By the fall, the male sheds and becomes similar to the female, but the upper part of the body remains darker. The big krokhal lives mainly in the northern zones – Denmark, Scandinavia, England; in the European part of Russia also lives, as well as in Chukotka, in the basin of the Lena, Yenisei.
The bird feeds on fish, for which it needs sharp teeth on the hook-shaped beak. Such a “tool” duck holds prey. Usually krokhali kept in pairs, sometimes combined in large flocks. The duck does not live in small bodies of water, because it needs a great distance to take off.
Average merganser
It is a crested long-nosed duck that inhabits the northern territories. The bird reaches the size of the mallard, its weight is 1000 g, its length is up to 60 cm in drakes, and up to 55 cm in ducks.
Description of males:
- head, back, neck – black with greens;
- neck, belly – white;
- sides – with a small pattern;
- the breast is reddish-white;
- on the back of the head is a crest of thin feathers;
- beak, paws – red.
In the summer, black feathers at the wings grow on the drakes, which creates a beautiful mating pattern. The females are ash gray, the head, neck are brown, the back is brown. Tuft duck shorter than the male. The nose is shaped like a saw; it is meant to grab food. Medium stalkers consume fish, occasionally aquatic worms, crustaceans.
Scaly King
This species is very rare; over the past few years, the number of individuals has greatly decreased. In Russia, birds live in the Far East. They are also found in China, where they overwinter. The reasons for the slow extinction of the species are pollution of rivers and other water bodies, poaching shooting.
These black-white-green ducks are listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation.
The coloring of the scaly kohalya is similar to that of the average krohal. The difference is only in size: the ducks are small, only 500 g weigh, and the body length is 40 cm.
The bird eats fish, mollusks, aquatic insects. Nests made in hollows of trees. When a female dies, its eggs are often “taken in custody” by another female, while drakes do not participate in the breeding of offspring.
Diving
Any duck-dive knows how to dive perfectly, as it obtains its food under water. Most diving inhabit the north of the planet, especially in North America.
Marbled Teal
This duck is simultaneously referred to both river and diving species. The fact is that she swims, plunging deep into the water. Males and females are equally colored, have a small weight. Occasionally the birds sit on the trees, but spend more time in the water.
Diving
This subgroup includes the red-eyed dive, the red-nosed dive, the pampas dive.
They are similar to each other, have medium size (weight – up to 900 g), large head, shortened neck.
They sit low in the water, often diving for food.
According to the description, the female strongly resembles a gray duck, the male is brighter, his chest is light.
Diving dwell in the taiga zone, forest-steppe of Russia.
Cherneti
Blackening (blackening) includes about 12 species of ducks: New Zealand blackening, sea blackening, Baer dive, collar blackening and others.
According to the description, they are close to dives, have a dense constitution, large head, gray or black beak. The legs are also dark gray, there is a light strip on the dark wings.
Cerneti are excellent divers, they spend whole days in the water. Feed taken from the bottom, completely hiding under water. Ducks rarely land.
Flocks of blacks can be so large that they completely cover the water surface of the lakes. Duck nests are built along the banks of rivers and lakes, along the thickets of bushes.
Pink headed duck
It is now impossible to find such a duck, it was last seen in 1945, because it is considered extinct, albeit unofficially. Previously, the duck lived in India, China, and several African countries. Perhaps she now lives in impassable swamps of Myanmar.
The bird was 41-43 cm long, pink plumage in the head and neck. Like other diving ducks, the duck dived perfectly, eating mollusks and fish.
For hunting, you should choose the type of ducks living in your area, get permission and decide on the correct tactics.
