Diving ducks are not as numerous as dabbler ducks in Kentucky, and are encountered in somewhat restricted habitats, most often big rivers or larger, wooded lakes. About 10 species migrate through Kentucky in the fall and early winter, heading south to their wintering grounds.

Here’s some life history information and observations on four high-profile species:

Lesser Scaup

The Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) is one of the most numerous and widespread diving ducks in North America, although the total population has declined significantly in recent decades, for causes not well understood.

The Lesser Scaup summers in central and western Canada, on marsh ponds, and lakes in prairie and forested regions, and winters on large reservoirs and rivers in the central U.S.

Most common in Kentucky during hunting season in the Jackson Purchase counties, the Lesser Scaup is taken by hunters statewide. In winter they are often seen in large flocks.

The Lesser Scaup forages by diving and swimming underwater, and sometimes by dabbling in shallow water.

Their diet varies with the season and habitat, but is mostly animal matter, especially clams and snails, aquatic insects, crustaceans, as well as the stems, leaves and seeds of pond weeds, sedges and grasses.

Adult males have a black, iridescent head, bright yellow eyes, a black breast, and a whitish-grey back. The wings have dark vermiculations, markings resembling the track of a squirming worm.

Adult females have a white band at the base of their gray bills, and are dark brown all over, shading to whitish on the belly. The hen’s eyes are orange to yellow, varying with age.

Adults are 15 to 19 inches long, about 16 inches on average. They weigh about 1.0 to 2.5 pounds, with females weighing less than males. Their wingspans are typically 27 to 31 inches long.

Lesser Scaup are not very vocal compared to dabbling ducks. In courtship drakes produce whistles. The call of the hen is a guttural “brrtt…brrtt.”

Lesser Scaup typically breed at age two. Their nests are usually on dry land close to water, often on islands in lakes, surrounded by vegetation, in a slight depression, filled with dry grass and lined with down.

The female lays 9 to 11 olive-colored eggs. Incubation by the female is 21 to 27 days. Young leave nest shortly after hatching, and go to water. The young may be tended by multiple females, but feed themselves. Age at first flight is 47 to 54 days after hatching.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Hunting Activity and Harvest Report, hunters in Kentucky bagged 614 Lesser Scaup last season.

Canvasback

The Canvasback (Aythya valisineria) is an iconic diving ducks species — large, swift in flight, and wary, earning the respect of sportsmen everywhere.

Its abundance has varied through the years, but overall the species has been declining for some time, generally due to a loss of nesting habitat.

Canvasback maole (Photo from Wikipedia Commons)

The Canvasback summers in the Prairie Pothole region of the northwest U.S. and Canada, nesting in shallow marshes. Some pairs go to marshy lake complexes in the boreal forest regions of Canada, and as far north as the edge of the tundra.

The migration routes and wintering grounds of the Canvasback have altered somewhat in recent decades due to changes in food availability. Today, many of the birds migrate down the Mississippi and Central Flyways, wintering in southern Texas, southern Louisiana, southern Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas and Florida. They are most likely to be encountered in Kentucky on big lakes and rivers in the far western counties.

The Canvasback is the the largest species in its genus, similar in size to a Mallard, but with a heavier and more compact build, It ranges in length from 19 to 22 inches, weighs 1.9 to 3.5 pounds, and has a wingspan of 31 to 35 inches.

The Canvasback has a distinctive wedge-shaped head and long graceful neck. Adult males have a black bill, a chestnut red head and neck, a black breast, grayish back, black rump, and a blackish brown tail. The drake’s sides, back, and belly are white with fine vermiculations. Its bill is blackish and the legs and feet are bluish-gray. The iris of its eyes are bright red in the spring, but duller in the winter.

Adult females have a black bill, a light brown head and neck, grading into a darker brown chest. Its sides, flanks, and back are grayish brown. The legs and feet are bluish-gray.

The Canvasback dives for its food in water only a few feet deep, consuming the roots of aquatic plants, and feeds on the surface, eating leaves and seeds. It also eats mollusks, insects, and small fish.

Males and females pair up during spring migration. Several males may court the same female. Displays by males include snapping the head far back and then thrusting it forward, while giving clicking and cooing calls.

Their nests are in a marsh, in stands of dense vegetation above shallow water or on dry ground. The nest, built by the female, is basket-like and bulky, built of dead vegetation, lined with down.

She lays 7 to 12 olive-gray eggs. Incubation by the female lasts 23 to 28 days. Several hours after hatching, the young are led to open water by the female. The young feed themselves. The female remains with young for several weeks, but departs before they fledge. Young are capable of flight about 60 to 70 days after hatching.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Hunting Activity and Harvest Report, hunters in Kentucky bagged 409 Canvasback Ducks last season.

Redhead

Redhead female (left) and male (Photo by Bill Dix, courtesy Audubon Society)

The Redhead (Aythya americana) is experiencing a long term population decline, likely due to the loss of nesting habitat.

The Redhead summers in the Prairie Pothole region of the northwest U.S. and Canada, as far south as Iowa and Nebraska, and populations east of the Mississippi River winter from coastal Virginia, south through the Carolinas to Florida, and west to coastal Texas.

Uncommon in Kentucky, the Redhead is most likely to be encountered in the Jackson Purchase counties.

Art Lander Jr. is outdoors editor for the Northern Kentucky Tribune. He is a native Kentuckian, a graduate of Western Kentucky University and a life-long hunter, angler, gardener and nature enthusiast. He has worked as a newspaper columnist, magazine journalist and author and is a former staff writer for Kentucky Afield Magazine, editor of the annual Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide and Kentucky Spring Hunting Guide, and co-writer of the Kentucky Afield Outdoors newspaper column.

Adult males have a copper head and neck, with a black breast. The back and sides are gray, the belly is white and the rump and tail are a light black. The bills of males are pale blue with a black tip.

Adult females have a brown head and neck. The breast is brown, the belly is white and the rest of the body is a grey to brown. The female’s bill is slate colored with a dark tip.

The Redhead is 15 inches long with a 33-inch wingspan. Weights range from 2.0 to 2.5 pounds, with males weighing slightly more than females.

Their diet consists of the leaves, stems, seeds, and roots of aquatic plants, but they also consume aquatic insects, especially in the summer, mollusks, and rarely small fish.

Nests in marshes are above shallow water, sometimes on dry ground. Their bulky nests of dead vegetation are anchored to standing vegetation, and lined with down.

Female are parasitic, laying eggs in nests of other Redheads and other waterbirds, such as the American Bittern, but they may also raise a clutch of their own.

The clutch size is 9 to 14 dull white to pale olive eggs. Incubation by the female is 23 to 29 days. The female leads young away from nest about a day they hatch. The young feed themselves, and are capable of flight in about 60 to 65 days.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Hunting Activity and Harvest Report, hunters in Kentucky bagged 205 Redhead Ducks last season.

Hooded Merganser

The Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) is a native species but there are few confirmed records of nesting in recent decades and consequently very low abundance across the state.

In the Kentucky Breeding Bird Atlas, author Brainard Palmer-Ball Jr. wrote that “Hooded Mergansers have been reported nesting at only a few sites in central and western Kentucky.”

Sightings of adults with young have been reported in Jefferson, Pulaski, Warren, Henderson, McCracken and Fulton counties.

A hooded merganser male (Photo by Michael Libbe, courtesy of Audubon Society)

East of the Mississippi River, the Hooded Merganser most commonly breeds from Saskatchewan Province, south to Iowa, east through Wisconsin, upper Michigan and Maine, into the coastal Maritime Provinces. Populations east of the Mississippi River winter in southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

The preferred habitat of this smallest of the three mergansers species is wooded lakes, ponds and rivers where large mature trees are near water. They are cavity nesters and will nest in artificial nest boxes intended for Wood Ducks.

In breeding plumage the head, neck and breast of the mature male are black with white markings, including large white patches on either side of their fan-like head crest. The male’s flanks are a reddish-brown and the breast and undersides are grayish.

Hooded Mergansers stand 15.8 to 19.3 inches, weigh 16 to 31 ounces, and have a wingspan of 23.6 to 26 inches.

The adult female has a grayish-brown body, with a narrow white patch over the lower breast and belly. She has a light reddish-brown crest extending from the back of the head.

The male’s eyes are yellow and the female’s eyes are brown.

Hooded Mergansers feed on small fish, crayfish and other crustaceans, aquatic insects, tadpoles, mollusks, and small amounts of plant material. Young ducklings eat mostly insects at first. They forage by diving and swimming underwater, propelled by their feet, and find their food by sight, with eyes adapted for good underwater vision.

Pairs form in late fall or winter. In courtship displays, male’s crest is prominently raised and spread. Their nests are in tree cavities near water, usually 10 to 50 feet above ground.

Females usually lay about 10 eggs, with incubation by the female, for about 30 days.

Young leave the nest within 24 hours after hatching, climbing to the cavity entrance and jumping to the ground. The young find their own food, with the female tending them for several weeks. The young fledge about 70 days after hatching.

Hooded Mergansers are beautiful ducks with an interesting life history, but a hunter in Kentucky could be afield for years and never see one since migrants are basically absent from the state during our winter hunting season.

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