Located within New York City, the refuge covers more than 9,000 acres, and is a great place for spotting birds such as snow geese, lesser and greater scaup,
ruddy duck, ring-necked duck, green-winged teal, northern pintail, American wigeon and gadwall.
One of our most beautiful native waterfowl is the seldom-encountered
ruddy duck (it's not on our hunting list).
Some species, such as Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola), Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), Lesser Scaup (Athya affinis), and
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) have diets that are almost exclusively macroinvertebrates throughout their entire lives (Hoppe and others 1986; Bendell and McNicol 1995; Thompson and Ankney 2002), while others like American Widgeon (Anas americana) consume mostly vegetation during adulthood (Wishart 1983; Knapton and Pauls 1994).
But ducks' penises can reach considerable length (25 centimeters for a
ruddy duck).
"The CSL have approached North Tyneside Council to seek permission to carry out control of the
ruddy ducks at Swallow pond.
Field data documents that adult breeding
ruddy ducks feed almost exclusively on invertebrates by inserting their bills into the substrate, and moving the head in a lateral arc about 1.5 times the width of the bill, forcing the substrate out of the bill through the lamellae (Johnsgard & Carbonell 1996).
North Lanarkshire Council have granted permission for a cull of
ruddy ducks at two lochs in Coatbridge.
The nine-acre artificial lake is host to wildlife including kingfishers, mute swans, tufted and
ruddy ducks, plus a thriving population of water voles.
There were a few blackbirds and finches flitting around me as I sat in the hawthorns, and
ruddy ducks bobbed about defiantly with pochards and tufties on the reed fringed lagoons, but there was no sign of the long eared owls.
It is also now an offence to create a nuclear explosion or sell grey squirrels,
ruddy ducks or Japanese knotweed.
Mr Knight offered this, 'In essence, the
ruddy ducks are over-sexed and over here, they are going on holiday to Spain and causing all sorts of trouble, so we have to do something about them.'
Nestled in the hills of California's San Joaquin Valley, a tranquil pond invites flocks of
ruddy ducks, pintails, and shovelers to feed at its shores.
Although she dismissed ideas of a widespread national cull, like that seen with the
ruddy ducks, she said methods of controlling grey squirrels in the North-East were now essential.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the Department of the Environment in Dublin said: "We haven't been officially approached by the Spanish government on this but the issue has come up at conservation meetings with agencies in Britain and Northern Ireland, who have requested we cull our small number of
Ruddy ducks.
