Welcome to Colleen’s Corner. This is a column meant for fun and some information About myself: I am a Freelance Photographer you often see me on the side of the road or in various places taking photos of different things animals, birds, places, people etc. l have lived in Lumby just over 8 years you have seen my photos in the newspaper (Lumby Valley Times) and once in awhile in the Vernon Morning Star, and the Lumby Art Gallery. Photography is my passion. Disclaimer: The information on some of my photos that I write about a lot of times come from the Internet or books I research them, hopefully the facts are as close to the truth as I can come.
While at the lake one day I spotted this cinnamon head colored duck, he is called a Red Headed Diving Duck.
He was quite impressive, so of course I took his picture. His body was black and grey, their bills are a blue grey with a black tip. The females and the young are brownish with black and gray markings. This is a very sociable duck, often seen in large flocks. They are very cool looking ducks with bright red heads. They like to nest in reedy areas of the water, also on reservoirs, sewage ponds, streams, and ponds on cropland. They can be seen in Canada, Alaska, California, Gulf of Mexico and other wetlands in the Southwest. They like to eat aquatic plants that are submerged, like algae, muskgrass, bulrush, and pondweed.
They are a diving duck, but can also be seen as a dabbling duck as they will do in shallow waters. They do this by having their tail tipped upwards while reaching for the submerged vegetation. They also like to eat fish eggs, zebra mussels, mides, mayflies, and snails.
The courting of these beautiful ducks is like a gymnast in their movements, the male will throw back his head touching his tail, he will then snap his neck forward (ouch) while making a call that sounds like a cat meowing. When the male has set up with the female the two of them will fly low in the air to look for a good nesting spot in the marshes in the early morning and evening. The female will find a swim into a spot that has dense vegetation,and the male will wait closeby. The female will be the creator of the nest which is in a circular shape using plant material and pluck some feathers out of her chets forming a bowl shaped nest. The clutch size is about 7-8 eggs, which are about 2.0-2.6 for the length, and about 1.5-1.9 inches in width. The eggs are incubated about 22-28 days, when the young hatch their eyes are open, and the young are very alert, and ready to leave the nest in one or two days. Like some other birds and ducks, female Redheads are also known to place their eggs in other nests like Mallards, Canvasbacks, Northern Pintails, Gadwalls, Northern Shovelers, Ruddy Ducks, American Wigeons, and Northern Harriers.
The red headed ducks are often referred to as rafting ducks by hunters as they are attracted to the decoys that hunters set out before they are completely set up.
In the wintertime you can find these ducks in large flocks in two of the Gulf of Mexico areas. The flocks can add up to about 60,000 ducks or more at the same time (wow, that would be a sight to see.)
The oldest known Red Headed duck on record was banded in Minnesota in 1976 as a hatchling, at the age of 20 years and 7 months he was shot in Texas in 1997.
