Spring Migration: Red Head Ducks

Redhead Drake Courtship Display

The accompanying images were captured on Lake Harriett in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The redhead duck has a cool behavior during courtship in the spring. Drakes can be seen tossing their heads back and spitting water, yes spitting it, up in the air to attract a mate. Often seen in western Minnesota on their way north and westward to their breeding grounds redheads are a prize sighting in Minneapolis/St Paul. While the redhead duck can be seen in most of the USA , redheads, at least to me, are a western duck that is only seen in the Twin Cities metro area during spring and fall.

Redheads are a medium size diving duck. Males have red heads that vary in their coloration from bright red to a rusty red. Hens are more drab and tougher to ID. They appear on the water similar to other hen ducks like pintails with a visible difference being a light colored ring at the front of their bill. Redhead hens tend to be various shades of brown and in spring they will have drakes in their midst often.

Redheads are divers, meaning they dive under water to catch their food. What they do differently than other divers is they will feed in very shallow water when the opportunity presents itself.

If you want to view redhead ducks in the Twin Cities good places to look are; The Bass Ponds in Bloomington, the Minneapolis city lakes, Sucker Lake and Vadnais Lake in Shoreview, Black Dog Lake, The Mississippi River, The Minnesota River and the backwaters of each river on southward. During spring you may even see them in small ponds and marshy areas. 

If you want to see redheads Spring can be fruitful.

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