The Redhead is a handsome diving duck whose drake lives up to the name: a smoothly rounded, coppery-red head glows above a pale blue-gray bill tipped in black, set off by a black chest and a soft gray body. Females are a warm, even brown with a paler face. On the water Redheads ride in tight rafts, and in flight their fast, direct wingbeats and gray wing stripe distinguish them from the similar Canvasback, which has a longer, sloping forehead and a whiter back.
Redheads breed in marshes and prairie wetlands, and females are notorious for laying eggs in the nests of other ducks — including Canvasbacks and even other Redheads — a habit called brood parasitism. In Michigan they are chiefly migrants and winter birds, gathering in large numbers on the Great Lakes and big inland lakes, where great rafts dive for the aquatic plants that make up most of their diet. A modest number breed in the state's marshes.
Dives and dabbles for aquatic plants — leaves, stems, seeds, and roots — which form the bulk of its diet, along with aquatic insects, mollusks, and other invertebrates. In winter large rafts feed on submerged vegetation in the shallows of lakes and Great Lakes bays.
The Redhead has a rounded, coppery-red head and a pale blue-gray bill, with a gray back. The Canvasback has a longer, sloping forehead that runs smoothly into a dark bill, a whiter back, and a more angular head shape.
Yes. Female Redheads frequently lay eggs in the nests of other ducks, including Canvasbacks and other Redheads, leaving the host to raise the young. Some females combine this with tending their own nest.
Mostly as migrants and winter visitors, when large rafts gather on the Great Lakes and big inland lakes. A smaller number breed locally in the state's marshes and prairie-pothole-like wetlands.
Juveniles and females are warm brown with a soft face pattern and a gray bill with a black tip; the male's coppery head and gray back arrive over the first winter. The rounded head separates them from Canvasbacks.
A raft. Redheads often raft with scaup and Canvasbacks, so a distant raft on the Great Lakes is worth working through carefully rather than writing off as one species.
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