Canvasback, Regal Diver

This regal “aristocrat of ducks” holds his head high with a striking color-blocked look. Males have a rusty-brown head, white body, and black chest and tail. Females have similar coloring but are more muted. They are most often found in spring, fall, and winter flocks corresponding with migration. Winter is spent in the lower half of the U.S. and coastlines on lakes, salt bays, and estuaries. Summer and breeding habitat is prairie marshes and small lakes from the upper Midwest through Canada to Alaska. If the prairie is experiencing drought, they may migrate further north into Canada or Alaska. 

Canvasbacks are diving ducks, foraging deeper into the water for plant roots and tubers. Their winter favorite is wild celery, but otherwise, they eat insects, mollusks, small fish, and other sedges and pondweeds. 

Breeding pairs form along migratory routes, and several males may court one female. Displays of male include snapping the head far back and then thrusting it forward, while giving clicking and cooing callnotes. The female builds a somewhat bulky nest with vegetation above the water in a marsh. About halfway through incubation, males move to large fresh and brackish wetlands in central and western Canada to molt before migrating south in the fall. During this flightless period, males stay away from the shore, feeding on submerged vegetation and resting on islands. Females continue to incubate and feed hatchlings until they migrate south. A clutch is 7 to 12 eggs, and sometimes other ducks lay eggs in each others’ nests (egg-dumping). After hatching, chicks are led to the water by the mother, and they feed themselves. 

Populations fluctuate depending on precipitation levels needed for nesting; they do well in wet years, and poorer in dry years. In the Prairie Provinces in Canada around 40% of original wetlands were lost between 1951 and 1981. In North and South Dakota 3.6 million acres of wetlands have been lost and another 3.6 million were lost in Minnesota. Loss of wild celery, a primary food source, due to pollution, siltation, and eutrophication also made some areas useless for Canvasbacks; their migration routes and wintering sites changed during the last 40 years as a result. Hunting may also contribute to fluctuations as harvest limits have changed over the last 3 decades. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages duck hunting and limits the number of individuals hunters can take every year based on population size. 

Original mixed media on raw stretched canvas with maple float frame. Alternate hardwood frame available upon request.

Sources: All About Birds and Audubon Society