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Bufflehead

Status Fairly common transient, uncommon in winter. Autumn migrants generally appear in the second half of October (average 23 October, earliest 15 October). Estimates of up to 100 birds have been made on Christmas Bird Counts on the Atlantic coast, but larger numbers have been seen around the Bay of Fundy (over 200 birds on several counts from Digby). It remains through winter in diminished numbers about bays and inlets wherever feeding conditions are favourable. There is a buildup of numbers in late March to mid-April and a few may linger into May (average of last sightings 4 May, latest 16 May).

Description Length: 30-37 cm. Adult male: Head dark green with purple or bronze iridescence, with a large triangular white patch extending from below and behind the eye up over top and back of head; back and primaries black; tail gray; rest of plumage white; bill lead-coloured, yellowish gray along edge of upper mandible; legs and feet pinkish gray. Adult female: Sooty brown with white patch on cheeks and on wings; belly white; bill and legs similar to those of male.

Range Breeds from central Alaska, the southern Mackenzie Valley and northwestern Ontario, south to northern Washington, northern Montana, southern Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba and locally in southern Ontario. Winters from Alaska, the Great Lakes and Newfoundland, south to the Gulf States and California.

Remarks Among the rather large group known as "diving ducks," this drake is one of the most handsome. Its name is derived from its disproportionately large head, which provides an excellent field mark. Most diving ducks, such as eiders, scoters and Oldsquaws, are very slow to take wing, having to patter over the surface for a considerable distance before leaving the water, but this bird rises directly and quickly. It is one of the few ducks that nest in holes in trees; the female is so small she is able to pass through the entrance of an unoccupied flicker nest. When tree sites are not available, Buffleheads have been known to nest in sandbanks, in the manner of kingfishers.