Redhead - BirdForum Opus

Male © by Raul Roa
Alondra Park, Torrance, California, USA., 14 December 2005

Aythya americana

Female © by Joseph Morlan
South Padre Island, Texas, USA., 21 April 2023.

Identification

L. 37 cm.
Male: Blue bill, red head and neck, black breast, yellow eyes, grey back
Female: Brown head and body, darker bluish bill with a black tip.

Similar Species

Adult male may be confused with Canvasback, but note steep forehead, gray back, and blue bill.

Distribution

North America, winter in northern Mexico and the Caribbean.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Habitat

Marshes.

Behaviour

The diet includes aquatic plants with some molluscs, aquatic insects and small fish. They feed primarily by diving. They sometimes lay their eggs in the nests of other birds.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Woodin, M. C. and T. C. Michot (2020). Redhead (Aythya americana), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.redhea.01

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Redhead. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 23 December 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Redhead

External Links

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