Mallard beautiful ducks

You know the green-headed males. On females, note the relatively strong eyeline compared to most other species. Mallards are our most familiar duck and the only one present all year-round in large numbers. This circumstance should be taken not as license to ignore them, but as an invitation to enjoy watching their cute, fuzzy babies from May through August.

Gadwall Ducks

Males have a dark rump; both sexes have little white squares in the wing (the speculum), sometimes visible. In much of Marin, gadwalls take a distant second place for ducks you might see in summer, as well as becoming abundant in winter. Breeding gadwall are an uncommon but not unheard of Bay Area phenomenon, while you can usually find a few non-breeding birds scattered around.

American Wigeon Duck

In a nicely lit picture, the male’s head shows a clear green eye patch, but from many angles these luminescent feathers may appear dark or colorless. The “bald” patch on the front of the forehead is a little easier to see, but also subject to variable lighting. On males, look also for the dark rump bordered by white.

Northern Shoveler Ducks

One of the easiest ducks to recognize due to the extremely large (“spatulate”) bill and distinct set of colors: dark green head, white breast and rump, reddish flanks. To begin developing attentiveness to the shape of different ducks, start with female shovelers and find those shovel mouths.

Northern Pintail Duck

Males have long necks adorned with an elegant white stripe, as well as their namesake pintail. This might be the next dabbler to practice recognizing by shape alone: the long neck is usually perceptible on both sexes.

Green winged teal ducks

All of the previous dabblers were sizable birds, but green-wings are the smallest of all our ducks and are dwarfed by neighboring shovelers and the like. On males, look for the pretty red-brown head with green eye patch and vertical white spur on shoulder.

Cinnamon Teal Duck

Males are an unmistakable rich, dark cinnamon all over. Females can be a bit tricky, but they are bigger and bigger billed than green-winged teal, with a relatively plain face. It’s usually not an issue though: cinnamons are less common overall and they’ll often be in a pretty clear little group of males and females together. That is of course the most widely practiced method of female duck identification: identify the male next to it and call it whatever that bird is.

Wood Duck

Notes: Uncommon in our area, but unomittably glorious. Wood ducks breed regularly at Five Brooks Pond at Point Reyes and then pop up here and there in winter. As their name suggests, they like relatively woodsy, sheltered areas and in fact nest in tree cavities. This is the only one of our dabblers not in the fairly uniform genus Anas  (they’re an Aix).

Ducks are domesticated birds

Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form taxon; they do not represent a monophyletic group  (the group of all descendants of a single common ancestral species), since swans and geese are not considered ducks. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, and may be found in both fresh water and sea water.

Closeup shot of baby ducks swimming in the lake

Closeup shot of baby ducks swimming in the lake

Two baby ducks are swimming in the water

Two baby ducks are swimming in the water.

Two ducks are sitting in a pond

Two ducks are sitting in a pond, one of which is the only one that is the duck.

Mallard beautiful ducks

You know the green-headed males. On females, note the relatively strong eyeline compared to most other species. Mallards are our most familiar duck and the only one present all year-round in large numbers. This circumstance should be taken not as license to ignore them, but as an invitation to enjoy watching their cute, fuzzy babies from May through August.

Gadwall Ducks

Males have a dark rump; both sexes have little white squares in the wing (the speculum), sometimes visible. In much of Marin, gadwalls take a distant second place for ducks you might see in summer, as well as becoming abundant in winter. Breeding gadwall are an uncommon but not unheard of Bay Area phenomenon, while you can usually find a few non-breeding birds scattered around.

Northern Shoveler Ducks

One of the easiest ducks to recognize due to the extremely large (“spatulate”) bill and distinct set of colors: dark green head, white breast and rump, reddish flanks. To begin developing attentiveness to the shape of different ducks, start with female shovelers and find those shovel mouths.

Green winged teal ducks

All of the previous dabblers were sizable birds, but green-wings are the smallest of all our ducks and are dwarfed by neighboring shovelers and the like. On males, look for the pretty red-brown head with green eye patch and vertical white spur on shoulder.

Canvasback two ducks in water

Notes: Red heads and black breast, with back and flanks of canvas white. Pretty straightforward. Females echo the pattern more palely.

Ring-necked Ducks

Notes: Ring-necks are reminiscent of their relatives the scaups, but have a number of distinguishing features. The “ring-neck” is often utterly invisible in the field (see why I question those official bird-namers?), but they do also have a ring around the bill. In fact, they have two: one at the base and one at the tip. They also have gray flanks (darker than scaup), a black back (much darker than scaup), and a white spur around the shoulder.