The Canvasback is often called the aristocrat of ducks — a large, elegant diving duck with a distinctive long, sloping forehead that runs in an unbroken line from the tip of the black bill to the crown, giving the bird a regal profile unlike any other. The drake has a chestnut-red head and neck, a black chest, and a pale, whitish back and sides that look like canvas, the source of the name; the hen is a soft grayish-brown with the same characteristic head shape. Its build is streamlined and powerful.
Canvasbacks breed in prairie and boreal wetlands to the north and west and pass through Michigan as migrants, wintering on the Great Lakes, large lakes, and rivers where they dive for the roots and tubers of aquatic plants — the scientific name valisineria refers to wild celery, a favorite food. Great rafts once gathered at traditional wintering waters, and telling the whiter-backed, sloping-headed Canvasback from the similar Redhead is a satisfying skill for the state's waterfowl watchers.
Dives for the roots, tubers, and shoots of aquatic plants — notably wild celery, for which it is named — which form the core of its diet, along with mollusks, aquatic insects, and other invertebrates. It feeds in rafts on open water, diving to reach submerged vegetation and bottom prey.
The Canvasback has a long, sloping forehead that runs straight into a black bill, giving a wedge-shaped head, and a whitish back. The Redhead has a rounder head, a pale blue-gray bill with a black tip, and a grayer back.
The drake's pale, whitish back and sides were thought to resemble canvas cloth. Its scientific name, valisineria, refers to wild celery, one of its favorite foods.
Mainly as a migrant and winter visitor on the Great Lakes, large lakes, and rivers. It breeds in prairie and boreal wetlands to the north and west, not in the state.
Immatures and females are pale gray-brown rather than the male's white-bodied, rusty-headed pattern, but every age shows the long sloping forehead running straight into a black wedge-shaped bill.
A raft. Canvasback rafts historically formed in huge numbers on Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River, and those waters still hold nationally significant concentrations each fall.
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