Misnamed?
Whenever I make notes about these beautiful little ducks in my journal, the first name that comes to mind is ring-billed duck. The male’s bill pattern is striking, a thick white ring near the black tip at the front and a thin white ring at the base. Those rings jump out at you in the field and are one easy way to distinguish ring-bills from scaup.
Problem is, the ducks are named ring-necks and not ring-bills.
Are they misnamed? Not technically, no, as they do have a reddish ring between the purplish neck and black chest. It’s just very hard to see, you need the right light and the right luck to see it. A hint of the neck ring is visible at the front of this ring-bill.
Ring-neck. Right, right. Ring-neck.
