![\"ring-necked](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/ring-necked-duck-4767-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThere’s been controversy about the common name of this duck for over a century.<\/p>\n
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1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I’ve been photographing this male Ring-necked Duck at a local pond for over a week. I have better images of it than this one but I chose to post it because it’s one of the few shots of the species I have\u00a0where the dark chestnut colored\u00a0ring around the base of the neck can be seen. The ring, found only in males, is inconspicuous and very difficult to\u00a0spot (in fact, many birders have never\u00a0noticed this obscure marking). In\u00a0order for it to be clearly seen the\u00a0duck must be a male,\u00a0one must be close to the bird on a sunny day and\u00a0it needs to have its head raised and neck extended in an alert position.<\/p>\n Many birders and hunters believe this duck to be poorly named and think the species should have been called the “Ring-billed Duck” instead (after the\u00a0two white rings around its gray bill). The neck ring is clearly not a good\u00a0field mark but for some reason it jumped out\u00a0at the nineteenth century biologists\/naturalists\u00a0who named and described the species using dead specimens.\u00a0Even the species name “collaris” refers to the obscure neck ring.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, canvas added for composition,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This pose illustrates that even in ideal conditions (up close in bright light with the neck extended) the neck ring can be almost impossible to spot.<\/p>\n Many hunters don’t even know the common name of these ducks and simply call them “ring-bills”. I can see why.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There’s been controversy about the common name of this duck for over a century.<\/p>\n![\"ring-necked](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/ring-necked-duck-5392-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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