Redhead (bird)
Redhead | |
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male | |
Female with young | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Anseriformes |
Family: | Anatidae |
Genus: | Aythya |
Species: | A. americana
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Binomial name | |
Aythya americana (Eyton, 1838)
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The redhead (Aythya americana) is a medium-sized diving duck. The scientific name is derived from Greek aithuia, an unidentified seabird mentioned by authors including Hesychius and Aristotle, and Latin americana, of America.[2] The redhead is 37 cm (15 in) long with an 84 cm (33 in) wingspan. Redhead weight ranges from 2.0 to 2.5 lbs (907–1134 g),[3] with males weighing an average of 2.4 lbs (1089 g) and females weighing an average of 2.1 lbs (953 g).[4] It belongs to the genus Aythya, together with 11 other described species. The redhead and the common pochard form a sister group which together is sister to the canvasback.[5]
The redhead goes by many names, including the red-headed duck and the red-headed pochard.
Taxonomy and phylogeny
Taxonomy
The redhead is in the family Anatidae (ducks, swans, geese) and genus Aythya (diving ducks). There are currently no described subspecies of the redhead.[6]
The two
Phylogeny
The redhead and the common pochard form a sister group which itself is sister to the canvasback.[5] This group is then sister to the monophyletic group consisting of the white-eyes (hardhead, Madagascar pochard, and the sister species ferruginous duck and baer's pochard) and scaups (New Zealand scaup, ring-necked duck, tufted duck, greater scaup, lesser scaup).[5]
Description
The redhead is a
Males
During breeding season, adult males have a copper head and neck, with a black breast. The back and sides are grey, the belly is white and the rump and tail are a light black. Male bills are pale blue with a black tip and a thin ring separating the two colours. Non breeding males lose the copper colour and instead have brown heads.[7]
Females
Adult females, however, have a yellow to brown head and neck. The breast is brown, the belly is white and the rest of the body is a grey to brown. The female bills are slate with a dark tip that is separated by a blue ring. Females remain the same colour year round.[7]
Distribution
During
Habitat
Small, semi-permanent
Predators
Redheads do not have many
Population status
The North American Waterfowl Management Plan for redheads is 760,000 North American birds.[13] The population size has increased in the past few decades to well over 1.4 million birds.[7] Redheads make up 2% of North America's duck population and only 1% of its harvested ducks.[13] Populations may be stable because of restrictive bag limits for the species. In addition, the species uses semi-permanent and permanent wetlands to breed and these habitats are less likely to be affected by drought. For future management of the species, organizations are looking into wetland conservation.[13]
Behaviour
Migration
Spring
Redheads leave their winter range in late January and February with all birds migrating by mid-March. In western North America, migrants begin arriving in Oregon, British Columbia and Colorado in February. In central North America, migrants arrive as soon as temperatures open wetlands and lakes, which can range from late February (Nebraska) to early May (Alberta, Manitoba and Iowa). In the Great Lakes region and north-eastern North America, migrants will also arrive as soon as bodies of water open up.[14]
Fall
Western birds migrate through
Reproduction
Mating
Redheads flock together on
Nesting
Once copulation is completed, female redheads begin forming nests. They are built with thick and strong plant material in emergent vegetation, such as hard stem bulrush, cattails and sedges, over or near standing water.[6][12] Redheads do not defend their territory or home range; they are instead social while in their breeding ground. This is thought to facilitate brood parasitism on other pochards, which is particularly prevalent on the part of younger, less experienced redhead females.[6] In this process, redheads lay their eggs in other pochards’ nests, including the canvasback, ring-necked duck and greater and lesser scaups, and this parasitism by redheads reduces the hatching success of other pochards’ eggs, especially those of the canvasback.[6] The parasitic relationship between the redhead and other pochards promotes hybridization between the species; redhead hybrids with the ring-necked duck, canvasback and the greater and lesser scaups have been found.[10] Canvasback × redhead hybrids can be fertile.[15] Brood sizes range from 5 to 7 young, with the mother abandoning the chicks at 8 weeks old, 2–4 weeks before they are capable of flight.[13]
Vocalizations
There is little information on redhead vocalizations outside of breeding calls. When the neck is fully extended in the neck-stretching display, males emit a cat-like wheee-oww.[6][10] Males may also produce a soft coughing call, although this call is less frequent.[6] Females emit a soft errrr note when inciting a male.[6]
Feeding habits
All pochards have similar
Gastropods known as food of Aythya americana include:
-
Breeding male
-
Breeding male
-
Female
References
- . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ cosleyzoo. "Redhead Duck". Cosley Zoo. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
- ^ "Redhead | Types of Ducks & Geese". www.ducks.org. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
- ^ JSTOR 4088937.
- ^ ISBN 9780253363602.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Johnson, W.P.; Lockwood, M. (2013). Texas Waterfowl. College Station (TX): Texas A & M University Press.
- ^ a b R. Wagstaffe (1978-12-01). Type Specimens of Birds in the Merseyside County Museums (formerly City of Liverpool Museums).
- .
- ^ a b c d Johnsgard, P.A. (1965). Handbook of Waterfowl Behavior. Ithaca (NY): Comstock Pub. Associates.
- ^ S2CID 39784980.
- ^ a b c Baldassarre, G.A.; Bolen, E.G.; Saunders, D.A. (1994). Waterfowl Ecology and Management. New York: J. Wiley.
- ^ a b c d Mitchell Custer, C. (1993). 13.1. 11. Life History Traits and Habitat Needs of the Redhead. Waterfowl Management Handbook, 40.
- ^ a b c Woodin, Marc C. and Thomas C. Michot. 2002. Redhead (Aythya americana), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/695 doi:10.2173/bna.695
- ^ Woodin, Marc. C.; Michot, Thomas C. (2015). "Redhead Aythya americana Order ANSERIFORMES – Family ANATIDAE". The Birds Of North America Online. CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY and the AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
- ^ Michot, T. C.; Woodin, M. C.; Nault, A. J. (2008). "Food habits of redheads (Aythya americana) wintering in seagrass beds of coastal Louisiana and Texas, USA" (PDF). Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 54 (Suppl. 1): 239–250.
External links
- Redhead Species Account—Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Redhead—Aythya americana—USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- "Redhead media". Internet Bird Collection.
- Sound[permanent dead link], Sound metadata Macaulay Library, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Redhead photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
- Interactive range map of Aythya americana at IUCN Red List maps