- Oxyura jamaicensis
Includes: Andean Duck
Identification
Length 35–43 cm, wingspan 53-62 cm, weight 310-800 g
A small diving duck. Compact body with large head and stiff tail often cocked up, give it a very distinctive shape. Wings plain dark brown in all ages and seasons.
Breeding male
- Striking blue bill
- Black head with white cheeks (except O. j. ferruginea usually with an all-black head)
- Red-brown body
Non-breeding male
- Grey-brown body
- Head much as summer male but slightly duller
- Unlike most ducks, the non-breeding 'eclipse' plumage is seen from late fall through winter to early spring, not late summer
Female
- Dull brown
- Striped dark brown and pale buff head pattern
Juvenile
- Very similar to female; young males slowly gain white cheeks in first winter
Distribution
Photo by Stanley Jones
Laguna Cartagena NWR, Puerto Rico, USA, November 2012
Native to North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.
Introduced to the UK and Europe, where hybridisation with White-headed Duck is causing some concern.
Taxonomy
Closely related to the other "stifftails" of the genus Oxyura
Subspecies
Two to four subspecies are accepted[1][2][3]:
- O. j. rubida:
- Breeds interior north-western North America (southwestern Canada to Mexico); northern populations migratory. Included in O. j. jamaicensis by some authorities[1].
- O. j. jamaicensis:
- West Indies, resident.
- O. j. andina:
- O. j. ferruginea:
Habitat
Marshes, ponds and lakes with areas of open water and emergent vegetation.
Behaviour
Action
Dives to feed. Often sinks low in water before diving or even sinks completely to feed without diving.
Rarely seen on land as it walks poorly. They are not often seen in flight.
It cocks the tail much of the time. Except when on the nest spends much time on open water or diving for food.
Diet
A diving duck.
Their diet consists of aquatic insects, molluscs, crustaceans and worms. Also aquatic plant seeds.
Breeding
Breeding season varies through range, breeds all year in the tropics, April to August in the northern parts of its range.
A seasonally monogamous species. The nest is a bowl made of dead vegetation on ground or on water, hidden in dense vegetation. Lays 6 to 10 eggs.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2017. IOC World Bird Names (version 7.2). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and J Sargatal, eds. 1992. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Ostrich to Ducks. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334108
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved December 2014)
- BF Member Observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Ruddy Duck. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Ruddy_Duck
External Links
