The common scoter is a large, elegant sea duck with a heavy body, slender neck, and long, pointed tail. On water, it sits up high with raised head and tail, but will lower its head to flap its wings. They are often seen in large rafts offshore, or flying in long lines along the coast.
Adult males are black with pale grey under the wing tips which are more visible in flight. The bill is wedge-shaped with a yellow patch on the top. The legs are black.
Females are dark brown with barring. On the head, the cap is blackish-brown, and the cheek is dusky brown. Juveniles are similar to females but with paler underparts.
Common scoters feed by diving with a short forward jump with closed wings. They feed individually or in groups, diving and resurfacing together.
They breed near moorland lakes and winter offshore in large sandy bays, usually in shallow water. During migration they will also visit fresh waters inland.
The eider is a large sea duck with a wedge-shaped head, and short, often cocked tail. It is the UK’s heaviest duck and its fastest flying. They are gregarious, often staying close to the shore riding the swell, or forming long lines further out beyond breaking waves.
The adult male has a black body, white back and flank spot, and a salmon-pink breast that can fade to yellow. It has a black crown on its white head and a green patch at the back of the neck. The wedge-shaped bill is pale grey. During eclipse, it is darker with white patches and a pale brown head and crown.
The female is brown with dark bars, and juveniles are similar.
Eiders feed by diving, dipping, and up-ending often in shallow water, foraging for molluscs, crustaceans, and sometimes fish. They can also swim underwater. The male’s haunting call carries far, while the female produces a series of guttural sounds during breeding season.
Eiders breed in the north of the UK on coasts and islands. In winter, they are more widespread but rarely come inland.
The pintail is a large, elegant duck with a deep, heavy body, pointed wings, small head, and long neck. The male has grey and black upperparts, a white breast, and a long black and white tail spike. The head is cinnamon coloured with a distinctive white stripe on the neck. The bill is blue-grey with a black stripe, and the legs are grey.
In eclipse plumage, the male is brown with darker soft bars, streaks, and chequered pattern. The head is pale ginger with no stripes, and the bill is black with blue sides.
The female pintail is similar to the male in eclipse plumage with streaks and a lacey pattern. The head is plain, while the bill and legs are grey.
Pintails feed by upending, dabbling, and dipping in shallow water. When upending the tail is pointed down. They also graze on land picking at grain, and using its bill to dig out roots and tubers.
Pintails are found mainly on estuaries, but are also found inland on flooded meadows and lakes. Wintering birds arrive in September and numbers peak in December.
The gadwall is a fairly common, large dabbling duck, similar in shape to the mallard, with a square head, steep, sloping forehead, and slim bill. The male is grey with a black rump, and black streaks on the back with pale edges to the feathers. There is a white wing patch, visible in flight. The head is buff with a pale, silvery face, and the bill is dark grey.
In eclipse, the plumage is mottled with a pale belly, and the bill has orange sides.
The female is similar to the male in eclipse plumage and very similar to the female mallard. The head is grey and the tail is dull. The bill has orange sides, and the legs are orange.
Gadwalls feed by upending on the surface of shallow water. They also dive underwater for food, better than many other dabbling ducks, and occasionally steal from other species such as coots.
They are found anywhere where there is water including coasts, wet grasslands, marshes, and high moors, as well as park ponds. They can be seen all year round but are most populous from October to March when wintering birds arrive.
The garganey is a small, secretive dabbling duck, slightly larger than the teal. The male has a dark brown back with pale fringes on the feathers, and drooping feathers over the wing. There is a pale blue patch with white edges on the forewings visible in flight. The underparts are warm brown with a white belly and fine grey markings on the flanks. On the head there is a white crescent above the eye, and white flecks on the foreneck. The bill is dark grey.
In eclipse plumage, the back is scaly and there are pale spots on the flanks. The underparts are pale. There is a pale stripe through the eye, and the chin is white.
The female garganey is like the male in eclipse plumage but paler. There is an obvious white spot near the bill.
Garganeys rarely updend completely when feeding and tend to dip just their head or skim the surface of the water with their bill.
The garganey is a rare summer visitor and scarce migrant. They can be seen in the UK between March and October in freshwater habitats, such as wet meadows and ditches.
The wigeon is a common dabbling duck, with short legs and a short bill. They form noisy flocks to graze on land or swim, and will fly up together when disturbed.
The male is blue-grey with a black rump and pink breast. The flanks are white as is the forewing which is visible in flight. The head is reddish-brown with a pale forehead and grey bill with a black tip. The legs and feet are grey.
The female has grey-brown to tawny barred and spotted plumage, with a white belly, and plain flanks. The head is grey with a dark smudge behind the eye.
The male in eclipse plumage is similar to the female but more red and with a white wing patch.
Wigeons feed by dabbling, tipping downwards from the surface of the water. They also readily graze, often forming sizeable flocks on agricultural land. Their legs are positioned further forward on their body than many other ducks which makes walking on dry land easier, but diving difficult.
Wigeons are a rare breeder in the UK, but from September the populations swells as they are joined by winter visitors from Russia and Scandinavia. Large numbers can be found around the coast as well as in estuaries, lakes, and wet meadows.
The mallard is one of our most familiar ducks and due to domestic breeding, may often appear quite tame. It is a medium-sized dabbling duck with long, stocky bodies, round heads, and wide, flat bills. The male has a grey body with brown bands lengthways, a chestnut-brown breast, and black and white tail. On the wing there is a dark blue patch with white borders visible in flight. The head is green with a blue or purple gloss, with a white neck-ring, and yellow bill. The legs and feet are bright orange.
The female is brown with dark streaks and brown ‘V’ shapes on the flanks. The tail is white, and the wings have the blue and white patches like the male. The head is grey with fine stripes, and the bill is brown with orange or yellow marks.
In eclipse plumage, the male is similar to the female but rustier coloured, and with a dark green cap and eyestripe, and yellow bill.
Mallards upend in shallow water, feed from the surface, and sometimes dive. They also graze on dry land, and forage for food in fields and woodland.
They can be seen all year round in the UK but are most numerous in winter. They are found in any areas where there is water including in urban parks.
The shelduck is a large, heavy duck with long legs, bigger than a mallard, but smaller than a goose. The male has a bright white body with long black bands on the back, and a reddish-brown band around the breast and upper back. There is a thick, black stripe on the belly and orange-brown under the tail. The wings are white with black, dark green, and chestnut patches. The head and neck are very dark green with a vivid red spoon-shaped bill that curves upward and a large basal knob. The legs and feet are pink.
The female is similar, but has white patches on the face, and lacks the basal knob.
Shelducks are aquatic birds and feed by dabbling in shallow water or digging in mud. They spend much of their time on land including perching in trees.
There is a fairly widespread breeding population in the UK, but the best time to see them is in winter when they are joined by migrants from the north. They can be found in coastal marshes, lagoons, estuaries, gravel pits, lakes, reservoirs, and wet meadows.
The teal is the UK’s smallest duck. It is a compact, dabbling duck with a short body, relatively large head, short neck, and small bill. The male in breeding plumage is dark grey with a white striped edged with black along the length of its body, and a mustard-coloured triangle on the side of its rump. There is a green flash on the edge of the wing, most obvious in flight, which helps distinguish it from the garganey. The head is cinnamon with a wide green panel edged with cream on the sides, and the bill is dark.
The female is mottled brown overall with a white streak by the tail. The green stripe on the wing is less bright, and the bill is grey with a pink base. The male in eclipse plumage resembles the female.
Teals feed by upending, dabbling, or grazing. It may also submerge its head completely, and occasionally dives.
It is a scarce breeder found on upland moors and mires, but is a common and widespread winter visitor when it is joined by migrants from the Siberia, northern Europe, and Iceland. Look out for them on lakes, pits, and estuaries.
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8 Responses
Why are Eider and Merganser doing in Belledune New Brunswick Canada ?
With a marine lake nearby, pairs of mallards visit the lawn area of the block of flats where I live. Today there was a third, a different species of duck , about the same size but thinner and a neck stretched so it seemed taller. Black with some white splodges in front, it followed the mallards , moving its head in a dipping motion. It looked like a kind of mating ritual .
Hi Nik. Saw this duck flying over an estate pond in Torquay (May 24) and yes, there were Mallards with it. I have looked at a webpage of British ducks and it is not shown so I also woild like to know what this duck is.
Mallards do interbreed a lot – and often their eggs hatch out some quite strange-looking mongrels! Could your unusual duck have been one of these?
No! not a mungral it is it’s own species a fluak of 70 or more.
Half a dozen ducks landed on the angling pond next to our house today – they strongly resemble eider (both male and female), but I’m in the west midlands where the description says they shouldn’t be!
I literally don’t think I’ve seen any of these apart from Mallards?
I have a healthy interest in birds. I was walking past a small pond in a small wood, spotted 2 ducks. Slightly smaller than a Mallard. Brown female, male had a blue / white side flash, definitely not a Mallard.