76 Ring-necked Duck

• A group of Ring-necked Ducks are called a; Brace / Flush / Raft / Team / Paddling.
• I had a hard time taking a good picture, this one is seen with a couple of Coots.  I will add more pictures when I get them.
• The name comes from the brown rings on its neck.  Funny thing is you can't see these rings unless you are really close but the white ring at base of the bill is easily found.  It also has a ring farther down on the bill and a black tip.  The female is brown with a more pronounced white ring at the base of its bill and the same white ring farther down and black tip.
• These birds don't flock up for migrations north but do migrate in the fall when they gather by the thousands further than most diving ducks and are fast flyers.
• They get chased by loons, and grebes in which they share ponds and  bogs.
• Ring-necked Ducks eat submerged aquatic plants and invertebrates.  The plants they eat include leaves, stems, seeds and tubers of pond-weed, water lilies, wild celery, wild rice, millet, sedges, and arrowhead.  They also eat mollusks, swallowing whole and having the gizzard crush them, snails, caddisflies, dragonfly nymphs, midges, earthworms and leeches. Protein rich diet is important during breeding and when they raise their young.  They dive for their food rather than bob with theirtail in the air like most ducks do.