wood duck drakemoose

Ducks Unlimited conserves, restores and manages wetlands and associated habitats for North America's waterfowl. These habitats also benefit other wildlife and people.

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Glossary

Drake

  • Adult male

Hen

  • Adult female

Moulting

  • Routine shedding of old feathers in birds.
  • Moulting is a comparatively slow process, as a bird never sheds all its feathers at once; it must keep enough of its feathers to regulate its body temperature and repel moisture. In the fall, ducks lose and replace all of their feathers in a short period of time.
  • Many species of ducks are temporarily flightless while moulting; they seek out protected habitat with good food supplies during this period.
  • This moult typically precedes migration.

Dabbling ducks

  • Members feed mainly on vegetable matter by skimming food from the surface, upending on the water surface, or grazing, and only rarely dive.
  • Compared to other types of duck, their legs are placed more towards the centre of their bodies which helps them walk well on land.
  • Feed on the surface of water or on land.
  • Have special plates in their beaks called lamellae similar to a whale's baleen. These tiny rows of plates along the inside of the beak let them filter water out of the side of their beaks and keep food inside.

Diving ducks

  • Members feed mainly by diving. Diving ducks do not walk on land as well as the dabbling ducks.
  • Their legs tend to be placed further back on their bodies to help propel them when diving underwater.
  • Heavier than dabbling ducks to help them submerge more easily and with relatively short wings, but have more difficulty taking off to fly.

Sea ducks

  • Usually found in marine habitats.
  • Many species have developed specialized salt glands to allow them to tolerate salt water, but these have not yet developed in young birds.
  • Sea Ducks are declining in numbers and aren’t well studied.

Habitat

  • The physical and biological resources required by an organism for its survival and reproductions; these requirements are species-specific.
  • Food and cover are major components of habitat.

Brood

  • Young hatched from a single nest.
 
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