American Black Duck

Anas rubripesOrder: ANSERIFORMES Family: Geese and Ducks (Anatidae)

Codes: Common Name: ABDU Scientific Name: ANARUB ITIS Taxonomic No.: 175068

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Overview

American Black Duck: Stocky, medium-sized dabbling duck with dark brown body, paler face and foreneck, and purple speculum bordered with black. Head is finely streaked; dark eyestripe is distinct. White underwings contrast with dark brown body in flight. Legs, feet are orange. Swift direct flight.

Range and Habitat

American Black Duck: Breeds from Manitoba southeast to Minnesota, east through Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and in the forested portions of eastern Canada to northern Quebec and northern Labrador. Spends winters in southern parts of its breeding range and south to the Gulf Coast, Florida, and Bermuda.

Topo Map: Duck-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"quack, quack, quack, quack"

Interesting Facts

The American Black Duck is not black, but only appears so at a distance; it was formerly known as the "Dusky Duck." They return to the same marshes each fall, and will starve rather than migrate farther south if those marshes are frozen.

If a mother is killed or separated from her brood, another Black Duck with ducklings of her own, regardless of their age, will quickly adopt the orphans.

The colors of the bill and legs are used to determine their age and sex. These differences led to an earlier belief that there were two subspecies, a northern, red-legged race, and a southern "common" one.

A group of ducks has many collective nouns, including a "brace", "flush", "paddling", "raft", and "team" of ducks.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Related Birds

Mallard
American Wigeon
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
Gadwall
Mottled Duck
Spot-billed Duck

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

American Black Duck

● Song: "quack, quack, quack, quack"

● Foraging & Feeding: American Black Duck: Feeds mainly on seeds, aquatic vegetation, crop plants, aquatic insects, mollusks, amphibians, and crustaceans. Forages by grazing, probing, dabbling, or upending in shallow water; occasionally dives from the surface.

● Breeding & nesting: American Black Duck: Six to twelve creamy white to green buff eggs are laid at one-day intervals and incubated by the female for an average of 28 days. The male abandons her towards the end of incubation. Usually returns to old nesting areas, building nest on the ground, typically near water, hidden in tall grass or underneath shrubs or low branches of a conifer.

● Similar species: American Black Duck: Female, immature and eclipse male mallards are much paler, without contrast between head and body and with white borders around blue speculum. Mottled Duck has broader brown feather edges on upperparts and bluer speculum.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: American Black Duck: Breeds from Manitoba southeast to Minnesota, east through Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and in the forested portions of eastern Canada to northern Quebec and northern Labrador. Spends winters in southern parts of its breeding range and south to the Gulf Coast, Florida, and Bermuda.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight49.6 Ounces

Duck-like Body

Face

The front part of the head consisting of the bill, eyes, cheeks and chin.

Foreneck

Also called the jugulum or throat patch, it is located on the front of the neck.

Speculum

The brightly colored area on the wing (secondaries of the wing) on several duck species.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America