These two species can be difficult to distinguish in flight. At a distance, though, the unique whistling of the speedy ringneck's wings give away their identity. Their propensity to fly right through the decoys, zoom a half-mile out, and then zip back in for a landing at the head of the decoys also gives a hint. Drake scaup lack the white bands around the bill of drake ringnecks and hen scaup have a white patch of feather behind the bill not present on hen ringnecks. There are also differences in the rear edges of the wings, but these differences are so subtle, it takes a good deal of experience to identify them with absolute certainty. Nevertheless, hunters should learn the difference between ringnecks and scaup before hunting at Sutton Lake in November.

Both species can be present, but the bag limits for them are dramatically different. Scaup populations have been declining at 1 percent annually for over a decade. Though I'm telling my age here, I remember scaup being "10-point ducks" during North Carolina's point system days, then having a two-scaup bonus heaped atop the general bag limit for ducks, including scaup, that was five ducks. That meant bags of 10 scaup for 100 pounds, or seven scaup with the bonus system. But now, the scaup bag limit is two. Ringnecks, however, have had a bag limit up to the regular duck limit, which has been six ducks in recent seasons, and their numbers have been increasing.

While it can be hard to say why one species decreases while another increases, it's a fact of waterfowl populations and the evolution of different species, along with complex regulations that govern hunting them. If hunters decided they didn't want to learn to identify scaup, then the bag limit for both species would have to be two ducks, to prevent an over-harvest of scaup.

That's an oversimplification, of course, but in general terms, it indicates why hunters must learn to tell the difference between the two ducks. Unless they can, they have to stop shooting once they've reached their two-bluebill limit, which can happen all too quickly.

To be certain, some hunters let ducks land, or at least stretch their feet for the water, before firing. Still, flocks of the two species occasionally mix at Sutton Lake, so hunters should be very careful. With increasing experience, shooting can be done with more confidence. Veteran waterfowlers usually have no problem distinguishing between the two species.

The best advice is to take binoculars with you during all trips to the lake, whether you are bass fishing or scouting, and observe the birds on the water and on the wing. Play a guessing game with your fishing or hunting partner, gambling a couple of tungsten shotgun shells or a fishing lure against his ability to tell which species of duck he's looking at.

Both species decoy well to either species' decoys. While having a stool of ringneck decoys is always the best bet for hunting ringnecks, in my opinion, they still decoy to scaup decoys and even puddle duck decoys.

Ringnecks are very interesting ducks. Over the years, I've begun calling them the "diving puddle duck." I've shot them in the tiny coastal creeks near Sutton Lake, as well as in the Cape Fear River, Northeast Cape Fear River, New River and many private impoundments where of all things they fly and feed at the same waters dominated by wood ducks. Even beaver ponds hold good numbers of ringnecks.

Scaup feed primarily on animal protein, but ringnecks love aquatic plants, such as hydrilla and pondweed. Sutton is full of nuisance pondweed and southern naiad, as well as several species of small clams. This gives ringnecks a dual-level smorgasbord at Sutton.

Sutton Lake's management seems to have some influence in addition to the general factors affecting duck numbers on a continental scale, such as population and temperatures. Any year when lake managers use herbicides to control aquatic vegetation obviously has an effect on the food supply for ringneck ducks.