First Canvasback Duck In Bermuda Since 1979

Following after last month’s sighting of the first Redhead duck in 35 years, Bermuda has another rare arrival with the first Canvasback duck spotted in Bermuda since 1979 found by Dr. David Wingate on the Audubon Society’s reserve at Stokes Point

Photo by Andrew Dobson

According to National Geographic, “Canvasbacks are diver ducks well equipped with their own form of flippers—large webbed feet that make them smooth and graceful swimmers. They spend much of their time in the water and use their long bills to feed by digging through bottom sediments in search of aquatic plant stems and roots, or submerged insects, crustaceans, and clams.

“Each year when winter weather begins to chill northern lakes, ponds, and prairie wetlands, the canvasbacks’ food becomes scarce and the ducks take flight in enormous flocks. Thousands of birds migrate together each year to traditional wintering sites like the Chesapeake Bay, San Francisco Bay, Gulf Coast, and Mexico.

“The majority of North American canvasbacks breed in the Prairie Pothole wetlands and migrate via the Mississippi Flyway to the Mid-Atlantic and Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, or along the Pacific Flyway to the California coast.”

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