35. Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)

Another American species which occasionally occurs here as a vagrant and also escapees from wildfowl collections. Its distinctive head shape sets it apart in all plumages from other similar ducks (e.g. Tufted and Scaup), along with the adults' snazzy 3-coloured (black, grey and white) bill.

Ring-necked Duck, ©winnu, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Ring-necked Duck sketch.

Fairly pleased with this one despite feeling frazzled this evening after a busy day at work and then study session with my study buddy Helena this evening. Our environmental science projects are shaping up nicely. Now I'm going to have an early night with a good book.

Next up in my Collins guide is the scary wildfowl hybrid pages! Hopefully it's not too much of a cop-out for me to give these a miss, I'm not sure I can face drawing various combinations of Tufted/Pochard/Scaup/Ring-necked/Ferruginous Ducks for 2 weeks...... So I'm going to move straight onto the Eiders tomorrow. Excitement!