You can often see their bottoms tipped up as they feed in the shallows. These ducks also feed often in grain fields. Puddle ducks are able to lift off from water or land immediately.
Diving ducks spend their time in large, deep lakes and rivers.
They feed on fish, shellfish, mollusks, and aquatic plants by diving, often to deep depths. They can swim long distances underwater by kicking their large paddle feet. Diving ducks can't launch from water straight into the air like puddle ducks can. Instead, they patter along the water surface for several yards before becoming airborne. Those that migrate through in spring and fall are the Eastern Prairie Population subspecies.