Redhead

Here's a Redhead duck I've seen this winter at the Duke Farms Reservoir.

The reservoir usually has a pretty good population of Ring-necked Ducks out there, though usually far enough out that you just see little black-and-white ducks. Sweeping over them with my binoculars, I kept seeing a little bit of red out there, though with all the movement (including diving underwater and other ducks getting in the way) it took a while for me to confirm that one of those ducks was not like the others. Over the next week I took a crapload of pictures, though the first set turned out the best (presumably because the ducks were a little closer to shore that particular day).

We're apparently far enough south to be considered a winter migration home, though not far enough south to be genuinely popular with Redheads. Some of them breed due north of us in southern Canada, though it's more common for them to breed in the northern midwest.

This fella (a female wouldn't have a red head) probably couldn't find any other Redheads here, but he seems fairly at home with his slightly smaller Ring-necked Duck cousins. (They're in the same genus.)

I wasn't sure whether I was seeing a Redhead or a Canvasback (another relative with whom the Redhead will sometimes hybridize), but the Canvasback would probably have a darker bill, and as a larger duck there would have probably been a more noticeable size difference with the Ring-necked Ducks.

January 8, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 176180579, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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