Marine blackening - description, habitat, interesting facts

Marine blackening belongs to the duck family, waterfowl and medium-sized birds. This is a wonderful dive that impresses with its swimming abilities. As the name implies, ducks spend most of their time in the water, occasionally getting out to land. On earth, they feel uncomfortable, therefore they prefer to return to their native expanses as soon as possible. But we will not run ahead and reveal all the cards so that you can familiarize yourself with the main characteristics of the birds below.

Habitat

Representatives of the family belong to ducks, distinguished by their ability to dive deeply. These birds prefer to settle in Canada, as well as in the United States of America. They are found in Washington, Dakota, Wyoming, Oregon. When winter time comes, birds move to warmer climatic zones. Inhabit in Florida, Massachusetts. For the winter they go to South America and Mexico. Found in Hawaii, Canary Islands.

Birds prefer wetlands, it is in these zones that they are engaged in the construction of nests for future offspring and breed in the future. They love floating-type vegetation, as well as thickets of reeds, hornwort, and yarrow.

Ducks dive perfectly, can swim for a long time under water, so they need appropriate sources for living with a decent depth. Individuals of the presented group are found both in salty and fresh environments. They like a variety of ponds, wetlands, coastal zones, rivers, lakes, etc. They try to move away from water-covered meadows.

Description

In females, the shade of feathers can change color over 12 months. Males, by contrast, acquire a beautiful outfit exclusively during the mating season. Their beak turns bluish, their head is black with a violet-red tint, their chest with a tail and neck are purple. The back is whitish with gray spots, and the abdominal part is light, as are the sides. The females are brownish with a certain coffee tint. In the plumage there are light tones. The head is reddish, a whitish spot located at the base of the beak of a gray tone.

Regardless of what gender the individual is in front of her eyes, her flywheel secondary feathers will be pigmented with a whitish tone around the edges. Also stands out on the wing on the upper wings. This representative of the family is extremely difficult to distinguish from other ducks of such a detachment, especially if you look closely from a decent distance.

As for the iris, the final shade varies depending on gender and age. For example, in males and young animals, the irises may be grayish, subsequently they turn green with yellow. Over time, the final color is yellow in males and brown in females.

Breeding

1. Birds belong to a monogamous species, that is, the formation of pairs invariably until one of the individuals dies. Birds join the family when spring migration comes to an end. Then they build a house and begin to masonry.
2. Usually this process occurs at the beginning of summer. In grassy areas, future parents dig a hole, line it with feathers and grass. The nest is round in shape. It turns out 6-14 eggs, the color of green.
3. Some representatives of the species do not build a nest on their own, but occupy the free housing of other ducks. Hatching lasts three weeks.
4. The young of the represented individuals is born from fairly large eggs. In this case, such a phenomenon occurs exclusively in the warm season. It is because of this feature that chicks have a very high chance of survival, unlike other duck species.
5. Often, newly emerged chicks can die within a few weeks. Such misfortune happens due to hypothermia or hunting of predators. It is worth noting that the chicks of the considered individuals are born at the end of the breeding season.
6. This is due to the fact that an abundance of amphipods appears in ponds at this time. This is the main diet of the individuals in question. Young growth becomes wing only 2 months after birth.
7. And the next year, males and females are already able to give offspring. If for any reason the couple could not reproduce the offspring, reproduction is postponed until the next year. Life expectancy of such birds can be up to 18 years.

Characteristics

1. Separately, it is worth noting that the individuals represented are completely social and do not show any aggression. Therefore, they are quite loyal to other representatives of birds. Only in the breeding season between different species can skirmishes be noticed. In such a period, males can desperately protect their females.
2. In the cold season, ducks are knocked down in huge flocks. After that, they begin to migrate. It is worth noting that during nesting, the presented individuals do not seek to protect their own territory. This is due to the fact that birds occupy small areas. Moreover, the size of their territory ducks can change throughout the reproduction.
3. The total area during the nesting period of the considered individuals can be from 26 to 165 hectares. With the onset of cold weather, birds begin to roam to warmer regions with favorable conditions. After wintering, females always return to their native places. As for males, they do not always act in this way.

The individuals of this species belong to ducks, of which there are a large number of individuals. Therefore, it is believed that the birds are not threatened with extinction. In addition, they have a fairly extensive habitat. Only in North America the population is gradually declining.

Video: Marine blackening (Aythya marila)