Species

Canvasback

Aythya valisineria

A large diving duck with a long, sloping forehead and a pale back, wintering on big lakes and bays.

Photo Frank Schulenburg (opens in a new tab) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab)

At a glance

Size: About 48 to 56 cm long
Weight: About 860 to 1,600 g
Habitat: Large lakes, reservoirs, bays and estuaries in winter
Diet: Roots and tubers of submerged plants, clams, snails and insect larvae
In Georgia: An uncommon winter visitor, November to March
Voice: Mostly quiet; males give a soft cooing in courtship
Rabies vector: No

Identification

Key marks: Long, black bill that runs straight into a sloping forehead, giving a wedge-shaped profile
Male: Chestnut-red head; black breast; very pale grey-white back and sides
Female: Pale grey-brown body with a brownish head
Told apart from: Redhead, which has a rounded head, a grey back and a blue bill with a black tip
Where to look: Open water on large reservoirs and coastal bays

Behaviour

Canvasbacks dive deep for the roots and tubers of submerged plants, especially wild celery. They gather in rafts on open water and often rest by day, feeding at dawn and dusk.

Why they matter

The canvasback is a specialist of submerged aquatic plants, which need clear water. Its fortunes have followed those of its feeding places — collapsing when plant beds disappeared from polluted bays and recovering where water cleared.

Reproduction and lifecycle

Nest — A bulky basket of plants in emergent vegetation over water
Eggs — Usually 7 to 9
Incubation — About 24 to 29 days
Ducklings — Leave the nest within a day
Flight — At about eight to ten weeks
Lifespan — Wild birds over twenty years are recorded

Living around people

Canvasbacks need open water with plant beds; boating traffic on reservoirs in winter pushes them off feeding areas.
Oil and lost fishing gear are hazards on the large waters they use.

Misconceptions

Any red-headed duck is a canvasback. Redheads have red heads too; the canvasback's wedge-shaped profile is the difference.

Related species

Seasonal activity

When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.

Breeding and active nests by month for this species
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Breeding	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Active nests	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Notes	Wintering	Wintering; pairs forming	Migrating north	Nesting on the northern prairies	Nesting	Ducklings hatching	Adults moulting	Young flying	Migration begins	Moving south	Arriving in Georgia	Wintering

Where it lives

Recorded in 72 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.

Canada

Mexico

If you found one

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