Many types of ducks spend the winter loafing and feeding on Lake Ontario before flying north again to nest. That makes for interesting walks along the waterfront in the winter as you’re never quite sure what waterfowl you may find. One of my favourite ducks is fairly small, smaller than a mallard, and it likes to dive for its dinner. When it comes up from a dive, it tends to pop up like a fishing bobber after a sunfish escapes or like a cork popping to the surface after being let go underwater. To me, these ducks are amusing to watch as they dive and surface. They are Bufflehead ducks.
The males have quite a large wedge of white on the back of their head. The rest of their face looks black but when the spring sun hits it right, it can shine with a rainbow of iridescence. Like oil on water, the feathers can shimmer with purples and greens and hints of blue.
The bills of both males and females are blue-ish grey or silvery. Their legs and feet look like a surprisingly bright orange to me, but other birding sites state they are in fact pink. I’ll have to look more closely the next time the ice melts and these attractive birds can come closer to shore.
Female ducks are plainer in colouring. They have a noticeable white cheek patch on a brownish face.
Where Do Bufflehead Nest?
The ducks seem to pair up quite early. According to AllAboutBirds they often stay pair-bonded for several years. So likely the pairs I see here will stay together even when they migrate north to nest in the spring.
According to AllAboutBirds, Bufflehead nest in cavities in trees. That’s a clue that they don’t go as far north to nest as some of our other wintering ducks. Apparently, they particularly like holes made by Flickers.
What Are The Bufflehead Eating?
These diving ducks aren’t competing for fish with the Red Breasted Mergansers that are often in the same waters. Instead, the Buffleheads are looking for crustaceans, mollusks and aquatic invertebrates. Yes, that includes the zebra mussels that are so plentiful in Lake Ontario. According to the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center website, about 25% of the Buffleheads diet in Lake Erie was zebra mussels and about 50% was amphipods.
Are Bufflehead Common?
According to a Hinterland Who’s Who article Bufflehead are actually a relatively uncommon duck. Their need for a specific size of nesting cavity in fairly open woods limits where they can reproduce. In addition, the chicks are vulnerable to cold or wet weather and to attacks by large fish such as pike.
Related Reading
- The Bufflehead, Hinterland Who’s Who
- One of These Bufflehead Is Not Like the Others: Say Hello to a Harlequin
Join In
Do you enjoy the Bufflehead’s antics? Please share your views with a comment.
On Mon. Apr. 16 & Tues. Apr. 17, I’ve been observing two pairs of these Bufflehead Ducks on the pond at Toronto Hunt Club (just south of Kingston Rd.” just north of Lake Ontario, between Victoria Pk Ave. & Warden Ave.). I’ve never seen them before, but when I googled the description, this entry came up. These are the ducks I’ve been watching: amusing to watch, indeed, as they dove under the surface and bobbed up again.
I love the way they pop up through the water–thanks for sharing!
Just saw two matched pairs of what I believe to be buffleheads. Small pond near our hospital. First time I’ve ever seen them. February 28,2019. Major hospital shelbyville, Indiana.
What a great sighting! They have been seen in your area, so I think you’re right
https://ebird.org/map/buffle?neg=true&env.minX=&env.minY=&env.maxX=&env.maxY=&zh=false&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=1-12&bmo=1&emo=12&yr=all&byr=1900&eyr=2019
Spotting them on the pond behind our house in Hugo, Minnesota.
thanks for sharing!
Hi
Have a small pond in VA. Is my local too far south to see these in late winter? Otherwise I don’t know what they could be? The dive for 30 seconds to a minute.
It looks like they could be Bufflehead based on the range map on eBird.
There have been quite a few recent sightings in various parts of Virginia.
I’m glad you got to see some!
https://ebird.org/map/buffle?neg=true&env.minX=&env.minY=&env.maxX=&env.maxY=&zh=false&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=1-12&bmo=1&emo=12&yr=all&byr=1900&eyr=2019
I just spoted a pair in Saint John New Brunswick. These are located at Spar Cove about 1 kilometre above our great Reversing Fall Rapids on the Saint John river.
What a great location to see these ducks! I love watching them diving.
Pretty certain I saw a bunch of these while I was running this morning on the waterfront trail on the Bay of Quinte in Belleville. We get an abundance of Mallard on this inlet but this is the first time I recall seeing this species. Wish I would have had my phone with me to take a picture. Hopefully they stick around and I get to see them again
They do gather along Lake Ontario in the spring, so they may be your mystery ducks. Hope they are there on your next run!
We just saw ducks bobbing in bay between Rehoboth De and Indian River Landing. Not sure if same ducks but we’re fun to watch. This weekend we had a Noreaster so is that why they might be here. Water was real rough and they were Inca Cove.
Sounds like the ducks are the only good thing about your weather on the weekend!
I saw one today in Wichita Kansas! Beautiful bird, it was rather far away but I got decent photos of it. What fun to watch it bob up and down.
They are great ducks! It looks like they are only common in Kansas in the winter–so great you could get out and see one!
Just spotted two couples in Orlando, Florida.
At a pond in my neighborhood. Beautiful ❤
Bufflehead are not seen very often in Florida. I wonder if they may have been Hooded Mergansers which are another very pretty diving duck? There’s some info at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hooded_Merganser/overview about Hoodies. Either way, it sounds like they were fun to watch!
Watching two pairs in the canal in Port Dover on Lake Erie. Such beautiful and watchable birds, mingling with mallards and seagulls on calm water.
They are one of my favourite ducks!
I spotted 2 males + 1 female in a 300 acre lake south of Atlanta GA… i have video… they are awesome!
Over two hundred just appeared on our lake in Plymouth Mass. I have never seen these kind of ducks before so googled. Makes sense they are here with the mussels we have in our lake.
I’ve been seeing them on Lake Ontario at Oshawa Lakeview park. I saw a couple of them last year but today I saw at least10 bobbing in the water feeding. They definitely bob up it’s fascinating to watch
Sounds like a good day at the Lake to me!
I am in central Wisconsin a small town of Babcock I had the pleasure of having a male on my pond for a few hours. Hope he has a safe trip the rest of the way.
Glad he popped up near you!
I have 2 pairs of these adorable bobbers in front of my house. They appear to be going through their mating rituals.
Will they stay here and lay their eggs?
I am located on Lake Ontario in a little town called Chaumont, in New York. We are about 20 miles east from where Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence river meet.
It doesn’t seem likely they will stay to lay their eggs “down south”. The Cornell University map
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bufflehead/maps-range
suggests they will be heading north west quite a bit before then.
They are one of my favourites to watch–I’m glad you’ve seen them too.
I have 2 pairs on my beach in Lake Ontario in upstate NY. What a wonderful surprise. I had never seen them before. So fun to watch.