A dabbling duck, or puddle duck, feeds on the surface or close to it by tipping over with its tail in the air. It dines chiefly in shallow water, on the fringes of marshes and on dry land. Its diet is mostly vegetable matter, consisting of seeds, grass, aquatic plant leaves and stems, aquatic invertebrates and insects and small fish.
Diving ducks, on the other hand, dive completely underwater and eat a wide variety of plants and animals found near the bottoms of large rivers, lakes and ponds. A large percentage of the diet of many divers consists of mollusks, crustaceans and fish. But divers, like canvasbacks, can be vegetarians, relishing wild celery.