Species

Ruddy duck

Oxyura jamaicensis

A small, stiff-tailed diving duck; males in breeding plumage have a sky-blue bill and a cocked tail.

Photo Frank Schulenburg (opens in a new tab) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab)

At a glance

Size: About 35 to 43 cm long
Weight: About 300 to 800 g
Habitat: Ponds, lakes, reservoirs and treatment ponds
Diet: Insect larvae, small crustaceans, snails and seeds
In Georgia: A common winter visitor, November to April
Voice: Mostly quiet; males make a drumming, bubbling display
Rabies vector: No

Identification

Key marks: Chunky body; large head; stiff tail often held cocked upright
Male: In winter grey-brown with white cheeks and a dark cap; in spring chestnut with a bright blue bill
Female: Brown with a dark line across a pale cheek
Told apart from: Bufflehead, which has a white body and no stiff tail
Where to look: Open water on ponds and lakes, often in tight flocks

Behaviour

Ruddy ducks dive for small animals on muddy bottoms and are so poorly suited to walking that they seldom leave the water. In display, males beat their bills against their chests, making bubbles rise from their breast feathers.

Why they matter

Ruddy ducks lay eggs that are huge for their body size — a clutch can weigh more than the female. Their stiff tails, used as rudders underwater, belong to a small group of ducks found around the world, and they are an unusual sight among Georgia's winter ducks.

Reproduction and lifecycle

Nest — A woven basket in marsh plants over water
Eggs — Usually 5 to 10, very large for the bird's size
Incubation — About 23 to 26 days
Ducklings — Leave the nest within a day and are largely independent early
Flight — At about seven weeks
Lifespan — Usually a few years

Living around people

Stormwater ponds and treatment ponds attract wintering ruddy ducks for their insect larvae.
On land, ruddy ducks can barely walk; one found on a road or car park after a storm needs a rehabilitator.

Misconceptions

A duck on a wet road is fine. Diving ducks sometimes mistake wet pavement for water at night and cannot take off from land.

Related species

Seasonal activity

When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.

Breeding and active nests by month for this species
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Breeding	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Active nests	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Notes	Wintering	Wintering	Males moulting into breeding plumage	Migrating north	Nesting on northern marshes	Nesting	Ducklings hatching	Young growing	Migration begins	Moving south	Arriving in Georgia	Wintering

Where it lives

Recorded in 84 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.

Canada

If you found one

Answer a few questions and you will get a specific answer for what you are looking at.

I found an animal