Waterfowl

Wildlife & Habitat

Many species of waterfowl can be found at J. Clark Salyer NWR.

Dabbling Ducks	Dabbling ducks usually prefer fresh, shallow marshes and rivers. When they feed in water, they tip forward with their head under water and their tail above. You may also see them feeding in crop fields, as they can walk well on land. Mallards, northern pintail, gadwall, American wigeon, northern shovelers, blue-winged teal, cinnamon teal, green-winged teal, wood ducks, and the American black duck are all puddle ducks.
Diving Ducks	Diving ducks prefer larger, deeper lakes and rivers. These ducks feed by diving under water, often for long distances. Canvasbacks, redheads, ring-necked ducks, scaup, goldeneyes, buffleheads, ruddy ducks, red-breasted mergansers, common mergansers, and hooded mergansers are diving ducks.
Geese	Canada geese, or "honkers", have black heads and necks, and white cheeks. Snow geese can be white or blue. The white morph is completely white and the blue morph is dark gray-brown, except for its white head and foreneck.
Swans	Trumpeter Swans are slowly increasing in number. They are the largest of the two native North American swans. The Tundra Swan, or Whistling Swan, is slightly smaller than the Trumpeter and is more common.

Please refer to Ducks at a Distance for more information about waterfowl identification.