The Ruddy Duck is a small, chunky diving duck with an outsized personality. The breeding male is unmistakable — rich chestnut-red body, gleaming white cheeks, a black cap, and a startling sky-blue bill — and he shows it off with a comical courtship display, drumming his bill rapidly against his puffed-out chest until a froth of bubbles rises in the water, then giving a sputtering call. He often holds his stiff tail cocked straight up, a habit shared by his tribe, the "stiff-tailed" ducks.
Females and non-breeding birds are a plain grayish-brown with a single dark stripe across a pale cheek. Ruddy Ducks dive for aquatic insects and seeds in marshes and ponds, and they are far more at home in the water than in the air, needing a long running takeoff and rarely walking on land. In Michigan they breed locally in marshes, pass through in good numbers on migration, and some linger on open water into winter.
Dives to feed largely on aquatic insect larvae, especially midges, along with seeds and parts of aquatic plants sifted from the muddy bottoms of marshes and ponds. It forages underwater and strains food from bottom sediments, feeding most actively at dawn and dusk.
A breeding male Ruddy Duck. It has a chestnut body, white cheeks, a black cap, and a vivid sky-blue bill, and often holds its stiff tail cocked upward. Females are plain brown with a single dark cheek stripe.
During courtship the male drums his bill rapidly against his inflated chest, forcing air from his feathers and creating a ring of bubbles on the water, then ends with a sputtering call. It is one of the more comical duck displays.
Ruddy Ducks have legs set far back on the body for diving, which makes walking difficult, and small wings that require a long running takeoff from water. They are superb divers but reluctant, labored fliers.
The sky-blue bill and chestnut body belong to breeding males in spring and summer. In fall and winter males turn dull gray-brown with a dark bill, and females and immatures keep a smudgy cheek stripe year-round.
A raft. Ruddy Ducks pack unusually tightly, often with tails cocked upright, and a distant raft can look like a scatter of dark corks on the water.
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