Home Forums Birds & Dogs Waterfowl Duck ID help

Help me guys. I'm not a duck hunter. I'm a pheasant hunter. In central Texas at in laws for holidays, so I forced myself to take up duck hunting to kill the week.

I've had 3 friends back in Missouri say hen gadwall. They may be right, but all the pictures of hen gadwall I've seen show a yellow bill (this is dark with a blue splotch on end) , have a white patch when wings are extended (this is all gray), have orange feet (these are dark). Also, skin was tight on breast meat, where teal just slid skin off.


So educate this bird hunter that's not a duck hunter.

Bird on left

Young hen lesser scaup?

Yes. Commonly called blue bills or just bills here. Look at the legs. Way back like that is diagnostic it's a diver. The whitish face, white belly, and blue tinge on the bill all say scaup. The size says lesser. Eyes should be yellow.

Not distinctively marked because it's a bird born this year.

Over water they come in low and fast flashing black and white with a very fast wing beat.

Had a friend of friend say scaup as well. I dismissed it because only a spot of bill was blue. One had landed in decoys at first light and five under and I never saw it come back up. This one was about an hour later. Like you said it came in low and fast, right into decoys. Both were lone birds.

hen bluebill

no question about it

Well I made up for shooting the scaup. Got a drake wood duck tonight. Taxidermy bill is going up, got a wigeon yesterday. Should have kept that green wing whole and just done the trifecta of these Texas ducks for my decorating.

Check out some images of a widgeon. Very prevalent in Central Tx

http://maryannbridgephotography.com/galleries.html?cat=97,111

Pic in right of gallery.

Hen bluebill (lesser scaup)

Exactly.

RS

No way it is a widgeon.

The only unmentioned possibility is a ringneck duck... but the bill is immature. It is almost certainly a scaup.

Hen bluebill.

Come on boys.. Its a Ringneck hen, note the circle around the eye, the ring on the bill as well as the olive speculum.

Bluebill hen = no eye ring, no bill ring and white speculum.


If you want a tough one try a Redhead hen versus Ringneck hen.. couple of tricks to that duo as well.

Hen Ringneck. Shot dozen's of them. Fun to hunt. Decoy readily. Not too bad to eat if you use the breasts and make Duck Terriyaki.

yo Cheesy. Have those Teal mounted as a pair standing on a piece of weathered driftwood. Would make a beautiful mantlepiece.

It is a ringneck hen.

If i hadn't got a wigeon drake the day before and a wood duck that night I would have. This pond seems to have teal on it every Christmas. I went down this year with fullnintentiom of mounting a teal. Then I end up with (to me) some harder to find ducks that will go on wall first.

Last year was my first time duck hunting. Wife and I got several teal. I can see how this sport might get time consuming and spendy.

gotta love those drake woodies. I spent 6 years in Alaska and got a few new ones up there, scoters, goldeneyes and harlequins mostly.

that's not a hen ringer. first off the bill marking is blue not white.

second of all the bill shape is a dead give away.

eye does not look yellow, white eye-ring says ringneck...
also no white in speculum. not sure how bill shape is a giveaway but I will defer on that point.

I could be wrong..

My first thought was hen ringer too

This is why there should be a 6 duck limit regardless of species. On multiple occasions I have seen veteran duck hunters debate the species. Ridiculous to have to ID them in the air down the barrel of a shotgun.

There is, (Or was) a publication that you could buy that had a Duck bill Chart on it. All you had to do was overlay your ducks bill on the chart and it was an instant I.D. I never had a question about a Species for 40 years. I gave it away to one of my guides from Chesapeake Bay, because of his great Waterfowl Guiding trips to me and my buddies. I think it was made by a guy named Masters. If any one of you ever gets to buy one. keep it. It's a treasure. The Duck in question is most likely a Ringneck Hen. (Here in Wisconsin we call them Ring bills,) but as some say there are nuances that say otherwise. They land in front of my house all during the migrating season, so I get a good look at them.

https://www.amazon.com/Waterfowl-Identification-LeMaster-Method-Richard/dp/0811729826

based on this, discounting the mature coloration depicted, going by shape of bill and size of naries, now make a call...

I could still be wrong..

I'm glad you posted this. I have pictures from 2015 with a hen duck like this. Looking them up, the ring neck and scaup are really similar. I believe mine is a ring neck.

I have no idea whether that duck is a ringneck, bluebill or scaup or whatever...but it most certainly is not a gadwall.

I bought the LeMaster Method book. Thanks. It's great. I may use packing tape to waterproof the pages.

I can't tramp around in the swamps anymore, but I still have my LeMasters book. I'm going to leave it for my Grandson. Mine is about 30 years old. It's an amazing piece of work. All Duck hunter's should get one.

red head