Canvasback

Canvasback, male

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Canvasback, female

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Food
7. Reproduction
8. Conservation Status
9. Other Names

A large diving duck, the Canvasback breeds in prarie potholes and winters on ocean bays. Its sloping profile distinguishes it from other ducks.

Cool Facts

• The species name of the Canvasback, Aythya valisineria, comes from Vallisneria americana, or wild celery, whose winter buds and rhizomes are its preferred food during the nonbreeding period.

Description

• Size: 48-56 cm (19-22 in)
• Wingspan: 79-89 cm (31-35 in)
• Weight: 862-1588 g (30.43-56.06 ounces)

• Large, sleek duck.
• Long sloping profile.
• Male with rusty red head, white body, and black chest and rear end.

Sex Differences

Breeding male boldly patterned with red head and white body; female drabber and more subtly marked in brown and gray.

Immature

Similar to adult female.

Similar Species

• Redhead with gray, not white body, a rounded head, ashorter profile, a brighter red head, and a blue bill.

Sound

Males make cooing notes in courtship. Female gives soft "krrr-krrr."

Range

Range Map

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

About the map

Summer Range

Breeds from Alaska to the Northwest Territories southward to Nevada and Minnesota.

Winter Range

Winters across much of coastal and southern United States.

Food

Seeds, buds, leaves, tubers, roots, snails, and insect larvae.

Reproduction

Egg Description

Greenish drab.

Clutch Size

Condition at Hatching

Covered in down and able to leave the nest soon after hatching.

Conservation Status

Populations have fluctuated widely. Low levels in 1980s put the Canvasback on lists of special concern, but numbers increased greatly in the 1990s.

Other Names

Morillon à dos blanc (French)
Pato coacoxtle (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Mowbray, T. B. 2002. Canvasback (Aythya valisineria). In The Birds of North America, No. 659 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.