Ruddy duck
Oxyura jamaicensis
Identification Tips:
- Small, chunky diving duck
- Long stiff-tail is often held vertically
- Dark wings
- Immature similar to adult female
Adult male alternate:
- Alternate plumage worn in Spring and Summer
- Brilliant blue bill
- Black crown and nape
- Rust-red lower neck, breast, back and body
- White face
- Black tail
Adult male basic(eclipse):
- Eclipse plumage worn Fall-Winter
- Dark gray bill
- Dark cap
- Face white, as in alternate plumage
- Gray brown neck and body plumage
Adult female:
- Like winter male, but with dusky horizontal stripe crossing pale
gray cheek patch
Similar species:
Most other diving ducks do not have the long, stiff tail of
the Ruddy Duck. Hooded Mergansers can sometimes hold their tails erect
like Ruddy Ducks, but have crests and long thin bills. The rare
Masked Duck of South Florida and South Texas has a similar shape
but adult male in alternate plumage has dark face, and the female,
and immature and eclipse-plumaged males have a buff head with a dark
cap, dark eyeline and dark line below eye.