Red-headed duck, Red-headed pochard
The redhead (Aythya americana) is a diving duck found in the Americas. It is closely related to the canvasback and belongs to the family which also includes ducks, swans, and geese. The scientific name of the redhead can be translated as "American seabird".
Redheads are diving ducks specially adapted to foraging underwater. Their legs are placed farther back on the body, which makes walking on land difficult, the webbing on their feet is larger than dabbling ducks and their bills are broader, to facilitate underwater foraging. In addition, pochards have a lobed hind toe. No pochard has a metallic-colored speculum, something that is characteristic of other ducks. During breeding season, adult males have a copper head and neck, with a black breast. The back and sides are grey, the belly is white and the rump and tail are light black. Male bills are pale blue with a black tip and a thin ring separating the two colors. Non-breeding males lose the copper color and instead have brown heads. Adult females, however, have a yellow to brown head and neck. The breast is brown, the belly is white and the rest of the body is grey to brown. The female bills are slate with a dark tip that is separated by a blue ring. Females remain the same color year-round.
Redheads breed across a wide range of North America, from as far north as Northern Canada to the Caribbean. Their preferred areas include the intermontane regions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the Dakotas with some small localities in Ontario, Quebec, and the southern United States. Redheads migrate south to winter in warmer climates. These areas include the southern United States and extend to Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, and the Bahamas. In either season, redheads use wetlands in non-forested areas where the water is deep enough to provide dense emergent vegetation. During the winter, redheads switch to large areas of water near the coast but can also be found in reservoirs, lakes, playa wetlands, freshwater river deltas, coastal marshes, estuaries, and bays.
Redheads are social birds. They can sometimes be found singly or in pairs but usually spend time in flocks. During migration and on their breeding grounds, these birds can form very large flocks. Sometimes they can gather in thousands in good feeding areas. Redheads are most active in the morning and afternoon. They feed by diving to the bottom of the body of water or sometimes by dabbling in shallow water. During the breeding season, male redheads emit a cat-like 'wheee-oww' and less frequently a soft coughing call. Females emit a soft 'errrr' note when inciting a male.
Redheads are herbivores (graminivores, folivores, granivorrs, algivores) and carnivores (molluscivores, insectivores). They eat both plant and animal materials. During the breeding season, redheads will eat as much animal matter as possible, including slugs, snails, mollusks, aquatic insects, and insect larvae. They will also eat the occasional grass and other emergent vegetation. However, once they fly south, redheads will change their diet to mostly plant material, including green algae, pondweeds, wild rice, wild celery, wigeon grass, bulrushes, muskgrass, and shoal grass.
Redheads are serially monogamous; they don't pair for life but only for one breeding season. Pair formation starts in December or January through elaborate courtship rituals. Redheads flock together on lakes and other bodies of water and migrate in mated pairs. Unpaired redheads migrate together in a ‘courting party’ that can be up to 25 individuals, enabling them to find a mate within the group. The courtship process is quite long. Males begin to attract females through neck-kinking and head-throwing displays while emitting a cat-like call. If interested, the female produces inciting calls toward the male while performing alternate lateral and chin-lifting movements. The male then swims ahead of her and turns the back of his head towards the female. Once courtship is finished, the two birds are paired for the year. After mating, females begin forming nests. They are built with thick and strong plant material in emergent vegetation, over or near standing water. Redheads do not defend their territory or home range. Females can brood their own clutches or lay their eggs in other ducks' nests. Female redheads usually lay from 5 to 7 eggs which are incubated for 22-28 days. When the female starts incubation, her partner leaves for molting grounds where he joins other mails. Ducklings hatch covered in down with their eyes open and can leave the nests within a few days. Females take their young to open water, where they can obtain food. They abandon their broods around 8 weeks after hatching, 2-4 weeks before they are capable of flight.
Although not threatened at present, redheads still suffer from the loss of suitable nesting habitat, droughts, disturbance during the nesting and molting period, and collisions with power lines.
According to the IUCN Red List, the total population size of the redhead is 1,200,000 mature individuals. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, and its numbers today are increasing.
