About Aythya americana (Eyton, 1838)
The redhead (Aythya americana) is a pochard, a type of diving duck specifically adapted to foraging underwater. Their legs are positioned further back on their bodies, which makes walking on land difficult. Compared to dabbling ducks, redheads have larger webbing on their feet and broader bills, both traits that help with underwater foraging. Like all pochards, redheads have a lobed hind toe, and no pochard has the metallic-colored speculum that is characteristic of other duck groups. During the breeding season, redheads are found across a wide area of North America, ranging as far north as northern Canada. Their primary breeding ranges cover the intermontane regions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the Dakotas, with small additional breeding localities in Ontario, Quebec, and the southern United States. After breeding, redheads migrate south to spend the winter in warmer climates. Their winter range extends across the non-breeding southern United States, and continues south to Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, and the Bahamas, reaching as far south as the Caribbean in winter. In both breeding and winter seasons, redheads use wetlands as their main habitat. The ideal breeding habitat for redheads consists of small, semi-permanent wetlands located in non-forested areas, with water deep enough to support dense emergent vegetation. When wintering, redheads use large, protected nearshore coastal waters, and can also be found in reservoirs, lakes, playa wetlands, freshwater river deltas, coastal marshes, estuaries, and bays.
