The ring-necked duck (Aythya collaris ) is a diving duck from North America commonly found in freshwater ponds and lakes. The scientific name is derived from Greek aithuia, an unidentified seabird mentioned by authors including Hesychius and Aristotle, and Latin collaris, "of the neck" from collum, "neck".
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DiurnalDiurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
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OmnivoreAn omnivore is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and ani...
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FolivoreIn zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less ...
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HerbivoreA herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example, foliage, for the main component of its die...
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SemiaquaticSemiaquatic animals are those that are primarily or partly terrestrial but that spend a large amount of time swimming or otherwise occupied in wate...
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WaterfowlWaterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans. They ...
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PrecocialPrecocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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NatatorialNatatorial animals are those adapted for swimming. Some fish use their pectoral fins as the primary means of locomotion, sometimes termed labriform...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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CongregatoryCongregatory animals tend to gather in large numbers in specific areas as breeding colonies, for feeding, or for resting.
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, b...
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Serial monogamySerial monogamy is a mating system in which a pair bonds only for one breeding season.
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FlockingFlocking birds are those that tend to gather to forage or travel collectively. Avian flocks are typically associated with migration. Flocking also ...
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MigratingAnimal migration is the relatively long-distance movement of individual animals, usually on a seasonal basis. It is the most common form of migrati...
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starts withThe Ring-necked duck is a small diving duck from North America. Males are a little bit bigger than females. They have two white rings surrounding their gray bill, a shiny black angular head, black back, white line on the wings, a white breast and yellow eyes. Females have a grayish-brown angular head and body with a dark brown back, a dark bill with a more subtle light band than the male, grayish-blue feet and brown eyes with white rings surrounding them. The cinnamon neck ring is usually difficult to observe, which is why the bird is sometimes referred to as a "ringbill".
Ring-necked ducks breed in the northern United States and Canada and winter months they are usually found in southern North America. Their main breeding area is Northwest boreal forest territories. These birds inhabit wooded lakes or ponds, rivers or bays, freshwater marshes, and bogs, swamps, river floodplains and sometimes brackish portions of estuaries.
Ring-necked ducks are active during the day spending the time feeding, resting or sunbathing. They are social birds and during the non-breeding season, they are usually seen in flocks of up to 40 birds. During migrating and winter, they may gather in a flock of more than 10,000 individuals. Ring-necked ducks feed mainly by dabbling at the surface or diving to depths of up to 10 meters. They are usually silent but when disturbed or during flight females may produce a high pitched growl. Females also make a noise like 'trrr'.
Ring-necked ducks are omnivores and feed mainly on aquatic plants such as pondweed, coontail, wild rice, leaves, stems, water lilies, algae, and sedges. They also eat mollusks, snails, insects, leeches and other aquatic invertebrates. Ducklings are dependent on an animal matter such as insects, earthworms, leeches, midges, and snails.
Ring-necked ducks are serially monogamous and pairs stay together only for one breeding season. They start forming pairs during spring migration. Unpaired ducks showing up on breeding grounds will most likely end up being non-breeders. Males perform displays which include neck stretch, throwing back the head, and swimming while looking at the female. Ring-necked ducks start breeding in May and may nest solitary or in colonies. The nests are bowl-shaped, usually built on water in dense emergent vegetation with sedges and woody plants. Females lay 8 to 10 buff or olive eggs and incubate them around 25-29 days. Soon after hatching the mother leads her ducklings to water to teach them how to get food. The female may remain with her young until they are able to fly which occurs 49-55 days after hatching. Ring-necked ducks become reproductively mature and are ready to breed at one year of age.
Ring-necked ducks are not currently threatened. However, they do suffer from hunting and lead poisoning due to the ingestion of lead pellets that birds find on the bottoms of water bodies where they feed.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Ring-necked duck total population size. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List and its numbers today are increasing.
Ring-necked ducks play an important role in their ecosystem. They feed on aquatic plants and aquatic prey, thus controlling their populations. Adult ring-necked ducks, duckling, and eggs are a food source for many local predators including raccoons, red foxes, skunks, muskrats, raptors, and domestic dogs.
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...