I've only ever seen one of these, it was in the flock of Canada and Cackling Geese.

Hides amoungst the tall and gagley...

Token Canadian bird, they seem to not even migrate anymore at this point, I generally see them year round. I notice they are taking care of their hatched young around late May, they are very tiny and yellow. They seemingly could be killed by a bad current of water at this point in life, they could be delta p'd really easily. An old friend of mine shot one while hunting and it dropped in the field. He thought it was dead, and brought it back into the blind, where it miraciously came back to life and started beating him with its wings. The fight turned into a knife fight, and as geese cannot brandish knives as far as I'm aware, it was relativly one sided. The goose jerky was pretty good tho, but everyone always uses the same spices and calls it a homemade family recipe, which I have a major problem with.

Populations exist freely in the East coast. there was one that lived in this rural pond. I belive it was someones pet at this point, regardless it just free roamed this area. Super large bird, kind of elegant to see floating around.

Absoloutly wonderful birds to see in the lake districts of Central Canada.

It's funny to me that people hunt these. They're super tiny dabbling ducks, that are extremly recognizable for their size, their crown feathering and the floresant green found on their wings; this is often seen at rest within male and females. The females feathering remind me of the pattern found in Jaguar Cichlid's (Parachromis managuensis).

Beautiful duck, easily recognizable by its feathering. I cannot think of another North American duck that resembles it. It's a real joy looking out into a pond, expecting to see Mallards and suddenly seeing a pair of these teal. From my experince, they seem less skittish in the water than some of the other dabbling ducks. I was able to walk to the shoreline as it kind of just trotted around on the water. Meanwhile, the geese were having anorisms about me being in the tree line.

A bizzare duck, it's bill is extremly large. I've only seen them the odd time, once in a city lagoon, and again in a salt marsh. A pair was foraging amounst some Gadwells, I've noticed they stay dabbled underwater longer than other dabbling ducks. Their bill is blueish in colour as well, other wise their feathering is similiar to a mallard in pallet tone; though not exactly identical. The replication of patterns in nature has been facinating me over the last few years, specifically, how it can occure seemingly independently across continents. The best example I can think of are the worlds woodpeckers, so many of them often have red heads for whatever reason, I wonder what the evolutionary drive was for this. I should probably look into geneolology more.

Hundreds maybe thousands of ducks occuring concurently, they form great rafts in estuaries and costal waters during the winter. Larger than the Lesser Scaup, at a distance is hard to pinpoint the difference. From my understanding, their head is greener and the feathering is more rounded. I often see these in the winter on the Atlantic, and they disapear as soon as the snow melts and the ice clears.

Hidden amongst the great, minutia seperates them at difference from their cousins. I've only seen these scattered amounst Greater Scaup, their head feathering is slightly bluer than green, and there is also a point of tempering breaking the round circumfrence at about 11 Oclock on a West facing bird. Their side aswell is more grizzeld in colouration. They seemingly occupy the same habitat and trends of the Greater Scaup, I've only ever seen them mixed in with large mixed flocks of the latter.

Though not sporting an obvious ringed neck, glimpses of chestnut are caught in his hue. A Scaup at first glance, until the ivory frame of its bill leads to its solidification as an independent. Also the timing of the year and habitat they are found in, can help seperate them off the hop. I often see these guys in the early spring ⇢ into summer, sitting in shallow coastal ponds and munciple lagoons.

A relativly large seaduck; trading still inland water, for the choppy rip of the tide, may frequently be found in coastal surf. It's roman nose is a sure identifier when winter conditions strip the male bird of its otherwise stark Gannet coded coat. I really enjoy running into these birds, often seeing them off the coast during the winter.

Yet no other seaduck I have glimpsed has rivaled the decorum of the male Harlequin. The female, cryptic in her feathering, bears the marking of paint behind her eyes. I remember the first time seeing a pair, I was walking this cliffside, and in this cove below me, cut out of the sandstone, a pair was floating around. I suppose too, the fact they are rare visitors to the area where I was, also added to my awe. Since then, I have seen many during the winter months on the Atlantic coast, I'm either pretty lucky, skilled or their Atlantic populations are doing okay.

It's white wings contrasting amoungst the black. A creature where the nature of its beak is bizare and non-understood to me, bears semblence to its distant cousins in its robust and malformed nature.

Their bill really trips me out o_O I geniually have no clue whats going on there, and the more I look the more comfused I get.

Plentiful duck spotted in estuaries or rough surf, they seem to have preference for conditions composed of enviromental hostilities, like its fellow seabirds. Very aestetically pleasing duck to me, there's something about white and black ducks that really capitivate me, I think its the contrast and the crypsticness that calls to me.

Small funny diving duck, one of my favourites. They have that CSGO oil slick feathering going on, and I think its cool. I often would see them in the winter, sitting out in open sections of estuaries, or further up coastal rivers, typically staying in the brakish zones. Though last winter I didn't see any, which wass weird because they were the most common duck the winter before.

A woodland duck, males are known for their disked hood, whichs holdes a a white crescent within its black plumage. The females alike have this hooded feature, though it is far more muted in colour, resembling the tone of deer fur. Its young must plunge to ground from heights of their arboreal nestage, upon entering the world outside their nest within the first 24-48hr of life. Following a series of calculation, it is estimated that the terminal velocity of a fledgling is around between 13.66 m/s and 15.00 m/s, with an estimated impact force of 0.653 N from a nest of 5m elevation.

Though their meat taste of rotten fish, and their presence a gurantee brings no excitement, though their constance has been stiring mythology upon my eyes. I have realised over the years that the novelty lost in reccuring species in an area, does not translate to loss, it instead paints the ecosystem in constants. I would dread a world where the fauna is randomized in arbritrary occurances of life. Without the presence of local inhabitants, the beauty of rareity could never be aprechiated. This leads into the duality of rarity, it is funny to me that to find a rare bird is seen as an acomplishment, when often times the reasons behind its scarcity, is the indescriminate destruction of habitat by man, creating this scarcity effect. As ecologists, we are directly affected by the same physics of market analysists.