The Calls of Ducks & Geese
By Lang Elliott and Kevin Colver
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
Learn the songs and calls of 50 waterfowl species found across North America. An audio soundtrack combined with detailed text and beautiful color photographs make this a useful guide for any birder. From the distinctive quack of the American black duck and whistled "peep" of the cinnamon teal to the cuckoolike call of the pied-billed grebe and yodel of the yellow-billed loon, this package covers waterfowl species in an easy-to-use format. Includes dabblers, sea ducks, geese, and other waterfowl.
Related to The Calls of Ducks & Geese
Related ebooks
Guide to Ducks and Geese Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Birds Nearby: Getting to Know 45 Common Species of Eastern North America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMockingbird Song: Ecological Landscapes of the South Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Kestrel: Pint-Sized Predator Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Songbirds of the West: Personal Encounters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Weasels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAttracting & Feeding Finches Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTurtles of Alabama Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bald Eagle Nest: A Story of Survival in Photos Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAtlantic Seabird Photo Journal: Off New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland Coasts to Canyons 1967-2006 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWild Alabama Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFeathers and Scales: Writings About Birds and Butterflies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mayfly Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDucks at a Distance A Waterfowl Identification Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Orca Scientists Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSongbirds of the West Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFeeder Birds of Eastern North America: Getting to Know Easy-to-Attract Backyard Visitors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBirds of Ontario (Vol. 1) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeventeen Species of Bats Recorded from Barro Colorado Island, Panama Canal Zone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWarblers and Other Songbirds of North America: A Life-size Guide to Every Species Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTreasury of Audubon Birds: 130 Plates from The Birds of America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLizards and Snakes of Alabama Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Best Birds Upland and Shore Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLight Enters the Grove: Exploring Cuyahoga Valley National Park through Poetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Woodpeckers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRaptors: Hawks, Eagles, Kites Falcons and Owls Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHawks In Flight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsState Guides to Birds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBirds of California Field Guide Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Wolves of Alaska: A Fact-based Saga Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Nature For You
Sapiens: A Graphic History, Volume 2: The Pillars of Civilization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Donella H. Meadows's Thinking in Systems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hen Who Dreamed she Could Fly: The heart-warming international bestseller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Animals in That Country: winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond Coffee: A Sustainable Guide to Nootropics, Adaptogens, and Mushrooms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Holes: The Key to Understanding the Universe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Third Chimpanzee: On the Evolution and Future of the Human Animal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kingdom of Plants: A Journey Through Their Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven And A Half Lessons About The Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses of Your Garden - and Beyond Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Simplified Grammar of the Swedish Language Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Peregrine: 50th Anniversary Edition: Afterword by Robert Macfarlane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shelter: A Love Letter to Trees Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Calls of Ducks & Geese
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
The Calls of Ducks & Geese - Lang Elliott
Contents
1. Mallard
Anas platyrhynchos
Mallards are one of North America’s most ubiquitous—and vocal—ducks. The Mallard is a bird of freshwater shallows, where it tips its tail up to feed on submerged vegetation and invertebrates. Mallards typically winter on the coasts in saltwater marshes. Males (drakes) can be recognized by their familiar green iridescent heads and chestnut breasts; females (hens) are a more muted brown with streaks. Both sexes have a royal blue speculum bordered by white stripes and bright orange legs and feet. These are noisy ducks in the air and on the water. The vocalizations of females and males are quite different, however, and only the female gives the loud quack commonly associated with the species.
ON THE CD
1. Male lands and gives rhaeb calls: Drake Mallards do not quack like hens. Their common call is a soft, nasal rhaeb that indicates mild arousal or alarm. A doublet version, rhaeb-rhaeb, is often made during aggressive encounters between males. (28 May 1993, Manitoba, Lang Elliott)
2. Female flyby: (6 June 1993, New York, Lang Elliott)
3. Female decrescendo quacks, male rhaebs, and female cackling: When separated from her mate, the female establishes contact with a loud series of seven or eight quacks that decrease in volume and pitch. During courtship, females respond to an intruding male with froglike cackles as they swim away, repeatedly flicking their bills to one side: cack-cack-cack-cack. (13 November 1998, Virginia, Lang Elliott)
4. Courting male grunt-whistles: A high whistle preceded by a soft grunt made by the male Mallard functions as a courtship call. (13 November 1998, Virginia, Lang Elliott)
5. Female persistent quacking: In the spring, during the prelaying period when a pair first settles on a breeding area, the flying or swimming female often makes a persistent quacking for long periods. The quacks in such a sequence are evenly spaced and of a constant intensity. (3 May 1993, Manitoba, Lang Elliott)
2. American Black Duck
Anas rubripes
Alarge resident of eastern North American freshwater wetlands, American Black Ducks are named for their dark plumage, which distinguishes them from the similar, more numerous Mallards with which they frequently coexist. Female Mallards are often confused with black ducks but are a lighter brown. The two species are known to hybridize.
Migrating black ducks usually follow major river corridors and the Atlantic shoreline to reach wintering sites in salt marshes from Nova Scotia south to the mid-Atlantic coast. A primary target of hunters in the early 1900s, their numbers are slowly on the rebound. Like most dabbling ducks, they are able to leap vertically out of the water into flight to escape danger.
ON THE CD
1. Female quacks: The familiar quack of the female American Black Duck, similar to the Mallard’s, is most often heard in mornings and evenings. The call attracts mates and also signals a female’s readiness to begin egg laying. A longer quaaack signals disturbance or alarm. Listen for the wing whistles as these ducks spring off the water and take flight. (20 September 1989, Quebec, Bill Evans)
2. Courting group: A rheebreeb call is most commonly made by males. Females respond with quacks and a fast, coarse, chuttering kwe kwe kwe. (23 May 1999, Michigan, Martyn Stewart)
3. Gadwall
Anas strepera
These large dabbling ducks inhabit open lakes and marshes, where they feed from the surface on seeds and aquatic plants. The male Gadwall is mostly gray with a brown head and black tail. Females are easily confused with female Mallard and American Black Ducks but have white belly feathers that are discernible at the waterline when the birds are swimming. Gadwalls breed throughout the prairie states of the north-central United States and prairie provinces of Canada. They winter in ponds and marshes in the South and coastal Mexico, with large concentrations along the Louisiana and Texas coasts.