Round-headed with a gray-blue bill, a breeding male has an iridescent cinnamon head with a gray body and dark breast. The non-breeding male is a little more subdued, but the yellow eye will always give away his identity. The female is a plain, soft brown and the bill will give her away if no male is present.
These are common diving ducks that spend winters in Oklahoma and they tend to tolerate more shallow water than many of the diving breeds. Most of the population winters in the Laguna Madres of Texas and Mexico, with a smaller group in Apalachee Bay, Florida with a few on the Chandeleur Islands off Baja Mexico, the Yucatan, and the Atlantic coastal region from the Mid Atlantic states southward.
These medium sized red-headed ducks have a steep forehead where the bill meets the head at a steep angle. They can easily be located in the prairie potholes of the northern Great Plains and intermountain western marshes during breeding season. These are common brood parasites with the female laying her eggs in the nests of many breeds, oddly even including the Northern Harrier. Noted in the video is a courtship display where the male will pull his head backward and snap it forward, giving a call reminiscent of a cat.
Redheads
South Padre Island, 2017
Flying faster than most ducks with a shallow and rapid wingbeat, they also fly in an erratic manner. Gregarious by nature, they will feed with other ducks, even having been known to fly to and land beside decoys. The red-headed pochards favor grains, grasses and select water insects, mollusks, and small fish.
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