This week's Feathered Friends contest is to portray the eyes of a bird. Here I will show the differences between male and female Ring-necked Ducks (Aythya collaris).
The male Ring-necked Duck has a spectacular eye color especially as winter winds down and their plumage transitions to their breeding coloration. The accompanying horomones must accentuate the flaming orange eye color in order to attract and secure mates. (Please enter the male photo as my entry).
Here you can see the male on the right with his orange eyes and slick black feathers. And the female on the left with her more subdued feather colors and less colorful bill lacking the additional white stripe at the base of her bill. Her eyes do not explode orange like her suitor's.
Below you can see the uncropped photos. The caught the male doing a little courtship neck bob.
The female turns away, not impressed?
In this final photo, you can see the male's namesake "ring-neck" as he bobs his neck up and down to attract the nearby females. This is hard field mark to notice in the field since you need just the right light and the bird has to have its neck stretched out. The Ring-necked Duck was named in the era where ornithologists shot birds and inspected the dead specimens in the hand. Thus they could more readily examine and see the distinctive ring around the neck. 
