![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ring-necked-duck-6620-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose\u00a0by any other name would smell as sweet.”<\/p>\n
With apologies to\u00a0the Bard\u00a0I must disagree with Juliet. I think names matter and there’s almost no rhyme or reason for the name of this duck.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n I don’t get many chances with Ring-necked Ducks, especially the females for some reason. But six days ago while I was photographing Common Goldeneyes on the Jordan River I glanced up from my viewfinder to find this female reasonably close and checking me out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n She wasn’t very active but she did give me a nice wing flap at a pleasing angle in\u00a0good light…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n and these two shots of it were my favorites. Then she settled back down in the water and just stared at me so I went back to the goldeneyes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n The previous year I’d been able to get much closer to some males. They’re best identified by their distinctive triangular white wedge extending upward in the area in front of the folded wing and a short\u00a0crest that gives its head\u00a0a very peaked and angular profile unlike that of any other North American Duck.<\/p>\n So, where’d the “ring-necked” part of the name come from? Males have a very inconspicuous narrow, dark-chestnut collar around\u00a0their neck but it can usually only be seen if:<\/p>\n If you look carefully that ring can be seen in the photo above but I had to\u00a0browse\u00a0through dozens of my own images before I found one where it could be seen this well. In the field with the naked eye it’s usually not seen at all and many\u00a0birders have never<\/em> seen it. It’s a terrible field mark for identification but it jumped out to the nineteenth century biologists\u00a0who described the species using dead specimens so that’s where the name came from.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n This photo should give you an idea of how difficult the ring is to spot in the field. I was very close to this bird in bright light and his neck was extended but the ring is next to invisible. If you squint you can get some hints of it but not much more.<\/p>\n A\u00a0much more appropriate common name for this species would be Ring-billed Duck. If you review the previous images you’ll notice that this species has a conspicuous white band or ring bordered with a black tip on the end of its bill, a characteristic shared by all sexes and ages. Generations of hunters have referred to this species as “ring-bills” for good reason. Ring-necked Duck may seem like an appropriate name if the specimen is laying in front of you\u00a0on a museum tray under bright lab lights\u00a0but in the field it seems to me (and to many others) that the name serves no useful purpose and can even be misleading when the supposed neck ring\u00a0can’t be observed.<\/p>\n So, as I suspect some of my readers already know, it’s likely that the name of this duck\u00a0is about to change. The American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) now has a proposal before it to change the name from Ring-necked Duck to Ring-billed Duck. Personally I support the proposal.<\/p>\n Its scientific name will still be Aythya collaris<\/em> with the “collaris<\/em>”\u00a0species name\u00a0referring to the neck\u00a0ring so I hope that’s enough for the traditionalists.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” With apologies to the Bard I must disagree with Juliet. I think names matter.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ring-necked-duck-6607-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ring-necked-duck-6608-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/ring-necked-duck-4767-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/ring-necked-duck-5392-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n