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| Wetlands & Waterfowl's Guide to North American Waterfowl: | |||
| Click to load: American Bittern American Widgeon Black- Crowned Night Heron Black Duck Blue-Winged Teal Canada Goose Canvasback Cattle Egret Common Egret Cinnamon Teal Gadwall Great Blue Heron Great Egret Green-Winged Teal Greater Scaup Lesser Scaup Mallard Mute Swan Northern Pintail Northern Shoveler Redhead Ring-Necked Snowy Egret Snow Goose Trumpeter Swan Wood Duck |
Redhead Scroll down for details  Scientific Name: Aythya
americana Habitat: ponds, lakes, marshes and bays Appearance: 18-22" long. Stocky build. Male: rusty head and neck, black tipped,blue-grey bill, black breast, gray back. Female: Brown head and body, Black blue-grey bill . Food: Foliage and seeds of aquatic plants, some insects and mollusks. Nesting: Nest is a shallow cup of plant material, which is sparsely lined with down. Nest is concealed in tall weeds or grasses near water. Female lays 10-16 buff colored eggs and incubates for about 24 days. Young are downy, leave the nest soon after hatching and fly at 8-10 weeks. Sometimes lays eggs in nest of other water birds. |
The Redhead is a handsome bird with curious egg
laying behavior. After filling her own nest with eggs, the female Redhead often continues
to lay eggs in the nests of other duck species and other Redhead nests. Sometimes a nest
can be filled with fifty or more eggs from dozens of females, resulting in what is called
a "dump nest". These nests are filled with more eggs than any female would ever
hope to be able to incubate. The Redhead population is dwindling. Industrial development in its native wetlands and drought conditions have reduced the number of Redheads so sharply that hunting has been banned in several key areas. |
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