Winter Ducks at Merritt Island - Photographs by Donna Faylo
Photographs on this page belong to Donna Faylo and may not be reproduced or otherwise copied without permission
 
The male Hooded Merganser is shown on the left.  The female is on the right.  Hooded Mergansers have distinctive crests and thin bills.  This is the smallest of the merganser family.  They dive underwater and eat small fish, frogs, crustaceans and aquatic insects.














Lesser Scaup, (left) is differentiated from the Greater Scaup by a thinner, straighter bill and a smaller head with a more obvious, more vertical corner at the rear of the crown.  Above is the male Northern Pintail, an elegant bird with a blue bill and long tail feather.
Below (left) is a pair of Redhead Ducks.  On the right is a pair of Northern Shovelers.  Both species are aptly named.  The Northern Shoveler uses his strikingly long spatulate bill to skim the  water for food.
Below on the left is the Ring-necked Duck with the distinctive, peaked head and the slim, white outline between his bill and his face.  On the right is a female Ruddy Duck.  She is small, with distinctive facial stripes.  Often her long, stiff tail will be raised at an angle.

Arguably one of the most beautiful species in the waterfowl family, the Wood duck is small-billed and long-tailed.  The voice is mainly thin, squeaky whistles.  He poses on the left.

Winter at Merritt Island is a paradise for the duck watcher.  All of these species breed in other parts of the world, some very far north into Canada.  Be sure to visit Merritt Island NWR and Black Point Drive, as well as other nearby impoundments, shallow ponds and marshy wetlands during January and February.

Below left is a Blue-winged Teal and on the right is a Gree-winged Teal.

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