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ring necked duck (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter dddiver
- Start date
flipper
15-still learning
Although rarely visable in the field, the male does have an inconspicuous purplish ring around its neck. This is shown vaguely in a picture at: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Ring-necked_Duck.html
cavan wood
Well-known member
Suprisingly visible on a couple of these photos.
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.featheredfotos.com/WEB/RNDU2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.featheredfotos.com/spppages/ducks/ring-necked%2520duck.html&h=264&w=386&sz=31&hl=en&start=42&tbnid=0Z8hHyCxzTUeBM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=123&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dring-necked%2Bduck%26start%3D40%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLG,GGLG:2005-36,GGLG:en%26sa%3DN
Scott
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.featheredfotos.com/WEB/RNDU2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.featheredfotos.com/spppages/ducks/ring-necked%2520duck.html&h=264&w=386&sz=31&hl=en&start=42&tbnid=0Z8hHyCxzTUeBM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=123&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dring-necked%2Bduck%26start%3D40%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLG,GGLG:2005-36,GGLG:en%26sa%3DN
Scott
Well see, back in the day when they used to have to shoot the bird to identify it, they got their sights on the yet-unnamed Ring-necked Duck, shot, and collected their prize. With the bird dead and in hand, the ring around the neck was easy to see and seemed to be a good, diagnostic field mark, and it was so named "Ring-necked Duck." What these hunter/birders failed to realize is the virtual inability to see that field mark in the actual field. |8||
nctexasbirder
young birder
since they didnt have any field birding till Roger Tory came along!
r2didi2
photo fisher
joannechattaway said:I saw my first ring necked duck a couple of weeks ago and thought at the time that it should be called the ring billed duck.
Joanne
Frank and I went to Weir Wood Reservoir on Saturday and saw a female RND - a lifer for both of us which was cool - and I wondered, having also looked up the picture of the male in the field guide, why it was called "ring-necked". So now I know - thanks people
))Didi
Woodchatshrike
Registered User
I wondered this many years ago and when I was told I had a close look at the Slimbridge collection birds. I have since found a few Ring-neck ducks in the UK and seen many others but have never put it in a description.
Jeff Hopkins
Just another...observer
Wow. I've seen them by the hundreds, but never well enough to see that ring. This is the first I've heard of it. I'll have to look closer next time.
I have other people suggest ring-billed instead of ring-necked as well.
I have other people suggest ring-billed instead of ring-necked as well.
Mike Pennington
Registered Member
overworkedirish said:
Ah well, not strictly true, as the first Ring-necked Duck described for scince was never seen alive by the describer. It came from Leadenhall Market in London (yes, London, England).
Frenchy said:
I was hoping someone would bring this up! This, on the other hand, was due to a small sampling size of specimens (mouthful of S's, no? haha). It is true that about 10-20% of RBWOs have a slight reddish hue on their bellies. Since red-headed was already taken, they named it red-bellied.
And to Mike - you may be right, I don't know the EXACT story (hence my ambiguity), but the point I was trying to get across was that the ring was visible when the bird was in hand, not in field.
Other bad names? Connecticut Warbler - a rarity in Connecticut |8|| , named so only because the first specimen was captured there.
Jeff Hopkins
Just another...observer
overworkedirish said:
My personal favorite mis-named bird is Palm Warbler.
Rick Wright Tucson
Well-known member
Birds on their backs
Birds are named from specimens, which in the western musem tradition are stored on their backs. As a result, there are many species named for characters visible only ventrally.
Ring-necked Duck is one of them: the ring on the neck (not that hard to see at close range in the field, by the way) is a clear distinction from other Aythya ducks in the drawer, while the bands across the bill are invisible if you are looking at a bird on its back (try it).
The same goes for such bird as Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
The genus Melanerpes, which includes Red-bellied Woodpeckers, is characterized by red or yellow at the vent, ranging from the rich red of Red-bellied to the lemon yellow of Gila to the slash of rusty orange on the belly of Red-headed Woodpeckers. Lewis's Woodpecker, though, takes the prize in the genus with its pepto-bismol pink belly and lower breast.
Birds are named from specimens, which in the western musem tradition are stored on their backs. As a result, there are many species named for characters visible only ventrally.
Ring-necked Duck is one of them: the ring on the neck (not that hard to see at close range in the field, by the way) is a clear distinction from other Aythya ducks in the drawer, while the bands across the bill are invisible if you are looking at a bird on its back (try it).
The same goes for such bird as Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
The genus Melanerpes, which includes Red-bellied Woodpeckers, is characterized by red or yellow at the vent, ranging from the rich red of Red-bellied to the lemon yellow of Gila to the slash of rusty orange on the belly of Red-headed Woodpeckers. Lewis's Woodpecker, though, takes the prize in the genus with its pepto-bismol pink belly and lower breast.
