Redhead

Redhead, male

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Redhead, female

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Sound
4. Range
5. Other Names

An aptly named diving duck, the Redhead can be easily identified by its bright red head and gray back. Many female Redheads make no nests of their own, but instead lay their eggs in the nests of other ducks.

Cool Facts

• The Redhead is known to lay eggs in the nests of other Redheads, at least 10 other duck species, and even nests of the American Bittern and Northern Harrier. Many parasiticallly laid eggs fail to hatch.

Description

• Size: 42-54 cm (17-21 in)
• Wingspan: 75-79 cm (30-31 in)
• Weight: 630-1500 g (22.24-52.95 ounces)

• Medium-sized duck.
• Rounded head.
• Bill blue with black tip.
• Male with bright red head, gray back, and black chest and rear end.

Sex Differences

Breeding male boldly patterned with red head and black ends; female more subtly marked in grays and browns.

Immature

Similar to adult female.

Sound

Male courtship call a catlike "meow."

Range

Range Map

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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Summer Range

Breeds in central Alaska, the Great Plains, and locally throughout the West. Also in scattered localities areound the Great Lakes.

Winter Range

Winters in much of United States and Mexico with open water.

Other Names

Morillon à tête rouge, Fuligule à tête rouge (French)
Pato cabeza roja (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Woodin, M. C., and T. C. Michot. 2002. Redhead (Aythya americana). In The Birds of North America, No. 695 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.