Another trip to Vadnais Lake before the road closes

The road at Vadnais Lake closed for the season last week but the day before it closed I took a trip over and got some more shots of waterfowl on the lake.

There were still a few ring-necked ducks hanging around. There are not as many as there was a couple weeks ago, but on this trip they were in a lot closer to shore so I snapped a couple of pics.

There were also some redheaded ducks still around. This time around I got an opportunity to photograph a male redhead A new comer to Vadnais Lake were the canvas backs.

Canvas backs are a larger diving duck that are found only in North America. They breed from Alaska to Manitoba and south from Minnesota to California.

During the breeding season the canvasback inhabit wetland habitats. The nests are formed of grass and feathers in the marsh. They typically lay 7 to 10 eggs which the female will incubate for around 24 days.

Canvasbacks eat aquatic vegetation such as pond weed, water lilly and their favorite wild celery. They also will eat mollusks, insects, and small crustaceans and fish.

Canvas backs are highly migratory. They spend their winters on the Great Lakes, Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf Coasts and in Mexico.

Canvasbacks are currently on the decline due mostly to loss of wetland habitat in their breeding range.