### animal | vertebrate | bird | waterfowl | duck | sea duck:

Merganser
* All mergansers have slender elongated serrated bills tipped with a hooked nail
  - show spike-like, hooked, serrated bills used for catching fish
* also eat aquatic insects.
* are fish-eating birds that often fly in a straight line
  - primarily fish eaters
  - the only sea duck species that forage nearly entirely on fish
* belong to a special group called fish ducks.
* have a long bill with serrated edges and a hooked point, adapted for grabbing fish
  - narrower bills and a crest
* often have more chicks than a loon.
* prefer open water
  - to nest on small inlands

Scoter
* are birds
  - common wintering birds off several estuaries
* are sea ducks that raft on the water and dive for food such as mullusks and crustaceans
* breed in Canada and Alaska.
* feed on mullusks, crabs, and some fish and very little vegetation.

### animal | vertebrate | bird | waterfowl | duck | sheldrake:

Shelduck
* also dabble in shallow waters in search of aquatic invertebrates and submerged vegetation.
  - sheldrakes
  - the most evolutionary primitive of the ducks
* tend to feed on molluscs and crustaceans from shallow water.

Shoveler
* breed in the northwestern United States, Canada and Alaska.
* have a wide, flat bill, unlike the shorter bill of the teal.

Wigeon
* feed on aquatic plants, sometimes coming ashore for shoots of grains and grasses.
* travel in small flocks, flying fast and irregularly, often with many twists and turns.

Wild duck
* are ducks
  - the reservoir for only a limited number of influenza A-subtypes
* fly over a papyrus thicket in the Nile marshlands.

### animal | vertebrate | bird | waterfowl | duck:

Wood duck
* Most wood ducks have diets
  - live in locations
* Most wood ducks migrate to areas
  - breed areas
  - obtain food
* Some wood ducks feed on grain
  - have chins
* Some wood ducks nest in artificial cavities
  - natural cavities
  - tree cavities
* Some wood ducks use artificial nest boxes
* Wood Ducks eat seeds, fruits, insects and other arthropods
  - thrive in bottomland forests, swamps, freshwater marshes, and beaver ponds
* are a difficult species to keep alive
  - able to breed after one year of life
  - dabblers or surface feeders
* are dabblers, meaning they feed by tipping-up in shallow water
  - or puddle ducks, and they prefer small bodies of water
  - ducks that nest in holes in large dead trees along waterways
  - in the beaver marsh
* are plentiful at first light
  - in the early morning
  - shy, secretive, small ducks
  - the only species that raise a large number of young each year in the state
* begin nesting and bluebirds work on their nest cavities.
* continue egg laying.
* depend upon forested wetland habitat for food and cover, although marshes are also used.
* eat acorns, seeds and insects
  - more fruit and nuts than any other American duck
  - wild rice
* feed on a variety of plant and animal material
  - land considerable distances from open water
* float along the edge of a lake.
* forage heavily on white oak acorns before beginning their fall migration.
* have a phenomenal ability to return to the same breeding area year after year
  - longer legs than most ducks
  - unique nesting habits
  - vary diets
* migrate south for the winter
  - when colder winter temperatures begin to freeze lakes
* molt, or loose feathers, twice a year.
* occur throughout the eastern United States and also the Pacific coastal region.
* pair up and search for nest cavities.
* perch in trees and have longer legs than most ducks.
* raise one brood a year.
* swallow their food whole and temporarily store it in the crop.
* use cavities or nest boxes along larger streams for nesting.