Redhead

Redhead, male

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Redhead, female

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Other Names
4. Cool Facts
5. Full detailed species account

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.

Description

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

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

Sex Differences

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

Sound

Male courtship call a catlike "meow."

Other Names

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

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.

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.