Bird of the Month: Bufflehead
By Andy McCormick
Andy McCormick, Volunteer and Former Board President of Eastside Audubon
One of our smallest ducks, the Bufflehead arrives in Washington in early October where it winters mostly in saltwater bays and inlets.
STRIKING BLACK AND WHITE
The male Bufflehead is easily identified by its contrasting black and white plumage and especially by the white helmet-like pattern on the back of its head. In good light the purple and green iridescence of the feathers on the head is revealed. The bill is small and grey. The female Bufflehead is even smaller with overall dark plumage with a white cheek patch. You can see photos and video, and hear call sounds of the Bufflehead at Birds of the World.
The Bufflehead shares the genus Bucephala, meaning bull headed, with the Common and Barrow’s Goldeneyes. The heads of these birds were thought to resemble the head of the American bison. The word “bufflehead” is a contraction of buffalo head. The species epithet, albeola, from the Latin albus for white, refers to the white patch on the duck’s head (Holloway).
NESTS IN TREES
Bufflehead
Scientific Name: Bucephala albeola
Length: 13.5”
Wingspan: 21”
Weight: 13 oz (380 g)
AOU Alpha Code: BUFF
The Bufflehead gives us an opportunity to learn more about the boreal forest and aspen parkland, two special environments where the Bufflehead breeds. In North America, the boreal forest ranges across high latitudes from Alaska to eastern Canada. It is characterized by coniferous forests and small ponds and lakes with freezing temperatures for over half the year. The aspen parkland is a more southerly and temperate habitat stretching across central Alberta, Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba. It is typified by grassland prairie and small ponds and lakes.
Within these habitats Buffleheads disperse to locate existing nest cavities most commonly those of Northern Flickers. The flicker nest holes are too small for other cavity-nesting ducks leaving an abundance of opportunities for Bufflehead. Their reliance on flicker is so important that Buffleheads are considered cohabitants in these environments with Northern Flicker. (Dunne).
PRECOCIOUS YOUNG
Buffleheads are one of the only ducks that maintain a pair bond for many years. The female has a high breeding area fidelity often returning to the same nest cavity for many years. Once the female has chosen the nest hole (or sometimes a nest box), she will deposit eight to ten buff colored eggs and cover them with down plucked from herself. Incubation by the female takes about one month (Kaufman).
Young Buffleheads hatch out precocial and covered with downy feathers. Within two days they climb up the inside of the nest cavity and jump to the ground. There they are joined by the female and led to water. The ducklings feed themselves by dabbling at first, but within days they begin diving and this becomes their primary feeding method for the rest of their lives. The female abandons the young when they are five to six weeks old and before they can fly. Full flight for the young begins at about 50 days of age (Gauthier).
STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION
Most Buffleheads breed in central Alaska and western Canada. However, there are a few rare reports of breeding in NE Washington (Wahl, et al). They are a late fall migrate and winter primarily in marine waters along both coasts of North America but can also be found on inland lakes in small numbers. Bufflehead are one of the only species of ducks that has increased in numbers since the 1950s (Gauthier). However, they are potentially threatened by human activity such as clearing of aspen parkland for agriculture and clearcutting of trees in some areas of the boreal forest. Both activities reduce potential breeding areas. Management of waterfowl in Alberta has shown that Buffleheads will readily use nest boxes, demonstrating that the boxes could be a tool for future management of the population, which in 1992 was estimated at 1,390,000 worldwide.
Photo credit Mick Thompson. References available upon request from amccormick@eastsideaudubon.org.