Bird Watch
BY DAN REINKING
Sunday, November 04, 2012
11/04/12 at 6:54 AM
The large, handsome canvasback can be found on lakes in Oklahoma from fall through spring, although in greater numbers in winter along the Gulf Coast.
A member of the group known as diving ducks, the canvasback is capable of diving over twenty feet down while foraging for aquatic plants and invertebrates. The long, sloping forehead and black bill, together with the white body of the male help distinguish the canvasback from its relative the redhead.
Canvasbacks are often seen in flocks together with scaup.
Eastern Oklahoma this week
ARRIVALS: Ross's Goose, American Scoter, Red-throated Loon, Pacific Loon, Glaucous Gull, Harris' Sparrow, Smith's Longspur, Red Crossbill
DEPARTURES: Neotropic Cormorant, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, Baird's Sandpiper
Dan Reinking is a senior biologist at the Sutton Avian Research Center in Bartlesville. Contact him at dreinking@ou.edu or see tulsaworld.com/suttoncenter The Bird Watch list is excerpted from the Date Guide to the Occurrences of Birds in Oklahoma, which lists normal dates of occurrences for bird species by seven geographic regions of the state. It is a publication of the Oklahoma Bird Records Committee of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society. For full information about the guide and how to report unusual bird sightings at unusual times of year go to tulsaworld.com/okbirds
Associated Images:
A male canvasback duck. JAMES ARTERBURN / Courtesy
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