Breeding adult male. Photo: Don Bland/Audubon Photography Awards
Oxyura jamaicensis
| Conservation status | Current population apparently much lower than historical levels, owing to unrestricted shooting early in 20th century and to loss of nesting habitat. |
|---|---|
| Family | Ducks and Geese |
| Habitat | Fresh marshes, ponds, lakes; in winter, salt bays. Breeds on fresh or alkaline lakes and ponds with extensive marshy borders and with areas of open water. In winter on protected shallow bays and estuaries along coast; also on ice-free lakes and ponds in the interior, including those with little or no marshy border. |
Forages by diving and swimming underwater, propelled by feet, using its bill to strain food items from mud at the bottom of ponds. Rarely forages by dabbling at the surface.
5-10, typically 8. Whitish, becoming nest-stained, with rough, granular surface, and quite large for size of bird. Ruddies often lay eggs in each others' nests and in those of other ducks and marsh birds. Incubation is by female, 23-26 days. Young: Leave the nest within a day after hatching, are able to swim and dive well immediately. Young are tended by female but feed themselves. Age at first flight about 6 weeks. One brood per year in north, sometimes 2 in south.
Leave the nest within a day after hatching, are able to swim and dive well immediately. Young are tended by female but feed themselves. Age at first flight about 6 weeks. One brood per year in north, sometimes 2 in south.
Mostly seeds, roots, insects. Feeds on the seeds and roots of plants including pondweeds, sedges, smartweeds, coontail, and grasses. Also eats aquatic insects, mollusks, crustaceans, rarely small fish. Insects and their larvae may be main foods eaten in summer.
Pairs form after arrival on breeding waters. Courtship displays of male include raising tail over back and bouncing head rapidly so that bill slaps against chest; short rushes across water with much splashing of wings and feet. Nest site is in dense marsh vegetation over shallow water. Nest (built by female) is a woven platform of grasses, cattails, lined with down, a few inches above water and anchored to standing marsh growth. Sometimes built on top of old muskrat house or coot nest.
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