Bufflehead

Bucephala albeola

The Bufflehead is a small, colorful duck known for its striking black and white feathers. They love to dive underwater to find tasty food like small fish and insects.

Habitat: Wetlands

Appearance

The Bufflehead is a small, compact diving duck known for its striking black and white plumage. Males have a puffy, iridescent purple-green head with a prominent triangular white patch behind the eye. Females are dusky grey-brown with a distinct white cheek spot.

KingdomAnimaliaPhylumChordataClassAvesOrderAnseriformesFamilyAnatidaeGenusBucephala

Bufflehead

Interesting facts

Buffleheads are North America's smallest diving ducks, weighing less than a soda can!

Ducklings leap from their tree-hole nests, sometimes 10 feet high, hours after hatching!

Male Buffleheads perform a funny head-pumping courtship display to attract a mate.

These ducks often reuse the same tree-hole nests each year for their ducklings.

Special abilities

Bufflehead can dive quickly and expertly underwater, using its powerful webbed feet to chase prey with agility.

Bufflehead has dense bones and small wings that help them dive effortlessly and swim deep in search of food.

Bufflehead can nest in old woodpecker holes, a unique adaptation that provides safe, elevated shelter for their young.

Measurements & details

Length: 32-40 cm
Wingspan: 42-55 cm
Weight: 0.27-0.6 kg
Lifespan: 1.5-12 years
Top Speed: 77 km/h
Clutch Size: 8-10
Incubation: 29-31 days
Migration Distance: 3500 km

Diet & Feeding

Buffleheads mainly eat small aquatic insects and crustaceans they find underwater.

Age differences: Young ducklings eat mostly insects, while adults have a more varied diet.

Primary Foods

aquatic insect larvae
crustaceans
small mollusks
fish eggs
small fish

Foraging Method

Pursuit

Ecological connections

eaten by

Bald Eagle

Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Adult Buffleheads can be prey for large raptors like eagles.

eaten by

North American River Otter

Lontra canadensis

Otters may prey on Buffleheads, especially during winter.

eaten by

Northern Pike

Esox lucius

Large fish can sometimes catch diving Bufflehead ducklings or adults.

eats

Emperor Dragonfly

Anax imperator

Buffleheads feed on the larvae of various aquatic insects, like dragonflies.

Traits

Feathered

Feathered describes animals, primarily birds, possessing a covering of feathers.

Social

Social animals live in organized groups, cooperating for survival benefits such as foraging, defense, and raising offspring.

Colorful

Colorful describes organisms or objects displaying a wide range of bright and distinct colors.

Filter Feeder

Filter feeders obtain nutrients by straining suspended food particles and small organisms from water.

Insectivorous

This trait identifies organisms whose diet primarily consists of insects and other small invertebrates.

Piscivorous

Piscivorous organisms are animals that primarily subsist on a diet of fish.

Wetland

This habitat trait identifies species found in wetlands, which are areas of land saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, including marshes, swamps, and bogs.