How to Identify aRedhead
Aythya americana · 16.5–21 in (42–54 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Rounded cinnamon-red head, black chest, smooth gray back, and a blue-gray bill with a crisp black tip.
Female
Warm brown overall with a pale area around the bill and the same black-tipped gray bill.
Male photo: Judy Gallagher / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0 · Female photo: Dan Pancamo / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0
Field marks
- Rounded head with a steep forehead
- Blue-gray bill with a clean black tip ringed in white
- Gray back, not white
- Yellow eye on the male
Similar species
What it sounds like
The male gives a strange cat-like "meow" in courtship; the female a harsh squawk.
Behaviour that gives it away
Regularly lays eggs in other ducks’ nests, including those of Canvasbacks and Mallards, alongside raising its own brood.
Habitat & range
Prairie potholes and marshes in summer; coastal bays, lakes and reservoirs in winter.
When you'll see it
Depending on where in central, western and eastern North America you are, it is a winter visitor and a passage migrant, seen mainly in spring and autumn.
What it eats
Aquatic plants, seeds and invertebrates taken on dives.
Did you know?
Some females build no nest at all, laying every egg in the nests of other ducks and leaving them to be raised.
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