Ring-necked Duck

I'm back home in Vermont where winter is still hanging on. The snow pack in the yard is retreating, but every so slowly.

Even so, today there was a feel of Spring which sent me down along the Connecticut River. The ice is still not out of the Retreat Meadows waters, but it is receding.

Few of the small birds have ventured this far north yet, but ducks are passing through, including one of my favorites ... the handsome and dapper Ring-necked Duck.

The name is often a puzzlement to modern birders, because we hunt them with binoculars, not with shotguns as did the reputable ornithologists of previous generations. So we don't get to see the "ring" on the neck.

Ah ... but sometimes the camera does see the ring on the neck ....

And ... a few additional shots of this diving duck and its pitter-patter means of getting airborne ... 

Good Birding!!