Canvasback
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| Canvasback | ||||||||||||||
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| Aythya valisineria (Wilson, 1814) |
The Canvasback (Aythya valisineria) is a large diving duck, 48-60 cm long and weighing 1270 g.
The adult male has a black bill, a red head and neck, a black breast, red eyes and a whitish body. The adult female has a brown head and body and a black bill.
Their breeding habitat is North American prairie wetlands. The bulky nest is built from vegetation in a marsh and lined with down. Loss of nesting habitat has caused populations to decline. Canvasbacks usually take new mates each year, pairing in late winter.
Canvasbacks are strongly migratory and overwinter on the coasts of the United States, the Great Lakes and British Columbia in saltwater bays, estuaries or lakes. This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.
Canvasbacks feed mainly by diving, sometimes dabbling, mostly eating aquatic plants with some molluscs, aquatic insects and small fish. Wild celery, Valisneria americana, is a favourite food and is the origin of this bird's species name.
The canvasback sometimes lays eggs in other canvasback nests.
- BirdLife International (2004). Aythya valisineria. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 05 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Canvasback Information: Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Canvasback Information and Photos: South Dakota Birds and Birding
- Canvasback: USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
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| Game Birds: | Bobwhite Quail · Chukar · Common Snipe · Hungarian Partridge · Prairie Chicken · Mourning Dove · Ring-necked pheasant · Ruffed Grouse · Sharp-tailed Grouse · Spruce Grouse · Turkey · Woodcock | |
| Waterfowl | Black Duck · Canada Goose · Canvasback · Gadwall · Greater Scaup · Lesser Scaup · Mallard · Northern Pintail · Redhead · Ross's Goose · Snow Goose · Wood Duck | |
| Big Game: | Bighorn Sheep · Black Bear · Boar · Brown Bear · Buffalo · Cougar · Elk · Moose · White-tailed deer · Gray wolf · Mountain goat | |
| Other Quarry: | Bobcat · Coyote · Fox Squirrel · Gray Fox · Rabbit · Raccoon · Red Fox · Snowshoe Hare · Gray Squirrel | |
| See also: | Bear hunting · Big game hunting · Deer hunting · Waterfowl hunting · Wolf hunting · Upland hunting | |