redhead duck painting | Best Life Birding- Birdwatching Tours

By Sally Siko

If there is one bird that who’s photo takes me back to great wintertime birding memories from the OBX, it’s this Redhead Duck!
I love the subtle but beautiful color palette of their cinnamon, black and grey plumage (especially paired with the blues and grays of a winter landscape) and the intense gaze of their orange eyes.

Redhead Ducks are a winter resident of North Carolina. Each November flocks of thousands of Redheads arrive in eastern NC to spend to coldest months in our (usually thawed) waters.
They are best found in shallow bays and marshes foraging for a an underwater snack of stems, seeds, and roots of aquatic plants: shoalgrass, pondweeds, and sedges at many of our coastal wildlife refuges.

One of my favorite things about Redheads are their calls. While most people are familiar with the typical “quacking” of ducks, Redhead ducks can make some unusual noises!
The female Redhead does makes a quack-like noise, but the male’s vocalization can sound like a cat’s meow or purr!
If you’ve ever stood by a pond filled with Redhead drakes, it sounds kinda like being around a bunch of broken cats lol!

Look for them later this year around Thanksgiving. Usually they’ll stick around until late March or early April before they head out to their breeding grounds in the western United States and western Canada.