I'm not sure which of these ducks are in this area year round and which are wintering here but it's been super fun to see these varieties. The boardwalks in the SPI are just perfect for viewing them as everywhere you look in the marshes and bay there is something!
Black-bellied Whistling Duck - It's a boisterous duck with a brilliant pink bill and an unusual, long-legged silhouette and they really do have a whistle for their call!
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Northern Pintail - One of the prettiest ducks I've seen. They are elegant, long-necked ducks with a slender profile. The tail is long and pointed. Breeding male Northern Pintails stand out with a gleaming white breast and a white line down their chocolate brown head and neck. Females and males that are molting (eclipse plumage) are mottled in browns and whites with an unmarked pale tan face and a dark bill.
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Blue-winged Teal - A small dabbling duck. Breeding males are brown-bodied with dark speckling on the breast, slaty-blue head with a white crescent behind the bill, and a small white flank patch in front of their black rear. Females and eclipse males are a cold, patterned brown. In flight, they reveal a bold powder-blue patch on their upperwing coverts.
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Mottled Duck - A relatively large duck, similar in size to a Mallard, with a sturdy body, short neck, short tail, and moderately long bill. Both sexes are mostly brown and buff, like a female Mallard but richer with a yellow bill and a black patch at the opening of the bill (the gape). The very buffy face and throat lack fine streaking. The back (scapulars) and sides are rich brown streaked with buff. Males have intensely yellow bills; females have greenish yellow to orangeish, with or without dark markings. White in the tail is an indication that the individual has some Mallard genes: a pure Mottled Duck has a dark tail.
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I only got one good picture of an American Wigeon which was a breeding male since it had a brownish gray head with a wide green stripe behind the eye and a gleaming white cap. The body is pale cinnamon with white patches on the sides of the rump that contrast with the black undertail feathers.
And last, but not least the Redhead which are medium-sized diving ducks with a smoothly rounded head and a moderately large bill. Male Redheads are a dapper mixture of cinnamon head, black breast and tail, and neat gray body. Females and immatures are a plain, mostly uniform brown. Redheads have black-tipped, gray bills, and in flight they show gray flight feathers. There were at times just TONS of these in large groups.
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