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Ring-necked Duck | Aythya collaris
Ringsnaveleend | Porrón acollarado | Zarro-de-colar
The Ring-necked Duck is a North American diving duck that winters south to Central America and northern South America. It reaches the guide area only in the north, in small numbers. The chestnut collar that gives the bird its English name is rarely visible in the field; the white ring around the bill is far more obvious.
Voice
Mostly silent in winter. The female gives a rolling, growling krrr; the male a soft whistle in display.
Recording: Stanislas Wroza — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
39–46 cm, with a tall head that peaks at the back of the crown. The male has a black head with a purple gloss, a black breast and back, grey flanks with a white, upward-pointing wedge in front of the wing, and a grey bill with a white edge at the base, a white ring behind the tip and a black tip; the eye is yellow. The female is grey-brown with a greyer head, a dark eye, a white eye-ring often with a thin pale line extending backwards, and a pale area around the base of the bill; her bill also has a pale ring. In flight a grey, not white, stripe across the secondaries.
Confusion species
The male Lesser Scaup Aythya affinis has a pale grey, finely marked back, whitish flanks and no white bill ring; the female has a sharply defined white patch at the base of the bill, a yellow eye and a white wing stripe in flight. The female Southern Pochard Netta erythrophthalma is darker brown, without an eye-ring, with a pale stripe behind the eye and a white wing stripe.
Habitat
Lakes, ponds, reservoirs and marshes with open water, often with floating and submerged vegetation, from the lowlands to lakes in the Andes; sometimes also sheltered coastal lagoons. It dives for seeds, roots and aquatic plants and for invertebrates. In the guide area usually single or in small groups, often among other ducks. It does not breed in the guide area.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia a rare winter visitor in the north, mainly in the Caribbean lowlands and on lakes in the northern Andes; further south only exceptionally. Not a regular visitor to Ecuador, Peru or Bolivia, and absent from the Galápagos. Elsewhere it winters from the southern United States to Central America and the Caribbean; it breeds in Canada, Alaska and the northern United States.
- Resident
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Check flocks of diving ducks on lakes in northern Colombia between November and March. The peaked head and the white ring around the bill can be seen from afar; females stand out by their white eye-ring.
Conservation status
Least Concern (LC). The North American population has increased since the 1960s. In the guide area a rare winter visitor.
Scientific name
Aythya collaris | (Donovan, 1809)
Donovan described the species in 1809 as Anas collaris; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Aythya was introduced in 1822 by Boie. The genus name is from Ancient Greek aithuia, the name of an unidentified diving bird. Latin collaris means 'of the neck', after the male's narrow brown neck ring. The specimen the first description was based on came from Lincolnshire, England.