{"id":7907,"date":"2020-01-01T17:21:52","date_gmt":"2020-01-01T22:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/?p=7907"},"modified":"2020-01-01T17:22:21","modified_gmt":"2020-01-01T22:22:21","slug":"a-canvasback-cruises-lasalle-marina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/a-canvasback-cruises-lasalle-marina\/","title":{"rendered":"A Canvasback Cruises Past at LaSalle Marina"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After a shopping trip to Lee Valley recently, I sneaked in a half-hour visit with the ducks and swans at LaSalle Marina in Burlington. Lots of waterfowl congregate at this spot in the winter, perhaps because the over-wintering Trumpeter Swans are often fed grain. I was standing for most of the time in one spot watching the hundreds of Mallards and picking out the odd Bufflehead<\/a><\/strong>, Black Ducks, Horned Grebe, and Ruddy Duck<\/a><\/strong> amongst them. Then another showy duck caught my eye and I watched as it cruised along in front of me, heading past towards the docks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Canvasback or Redhead ?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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My duck spent some time preening, giving me time to look closely at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first impression was that it was a Canvasback, although it wasn’t in a flock and it wasn’t diving. Then I began to doubt myself as the bill didn’t look as ski-jumpy as I expected. So I wasn’t totally convinced till I went home and did some comparisons of the two types of birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This older photo is of a Redhead, not a Canvasback.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One thing I noticed is that the Redhead’s bill is a different colour and shape than the one on the Canvasback I saw today. Another thing is that the Canvasback had a red eye, not a yellow or golden one like the Redhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canvasback also has white sides not grey ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This Canvasback duck was close in size to the nearby Mallards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s always nice to get a close up view of any ducks, even Mallards, but this quick look at a Canvasback made a good day an even better one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Related Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n