I was delighted to spot this stunning male Redhead duck (Aythya americana) on Friday in the waters off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I have seen this species only a few times, so I initially was not able to identify it. However, as I was capturing these shots, I was pretty sure that the duck’s stunning brown head, black-tipped bill, and distinctive yellow eyes would make it easy to find in my bird identification guide—I was right.
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Redheads are exceptionally gregarious and gather in large flocks in the winter, especially in the Gulf of Mexico. On this occasion, however, this Redhead appeared to be by himself.
The Redhead was quite far away, so I had limited options for composing my shots as I walked along the water’s edge. I managed to incorporated some of the environmental elements to come up with a couple of images that I really like—although it may appear that the duck is perched on rocks, I think that they may be portions of a waterlogged tree trunk or stump.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Beautiful, Mike!
Blue Rock HorsesFrederick County, Virginiabluerockhorses.com
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Thanks, Mitzy.
Excellent compositions on that stump thing. Nice of that beautiful duck to have a rest there.
Thanks, Ellen. The fact that the duck was raised up out of the water really helped me to capture so many wonderful details.
Reminds me a bit of the marvelous Cinnamon Teal that I saw a couple of years ago.
Your mention of the Cinnamon Teal sent me rushing to my id guide–I’ve never even heard of that species. The reddish coloration of the head and the color or the bill of the Cinnamon Teal are somewhat to those of the Redhead, but the body coloration is a bit different I think. The normal range of the Cinnamon Teal seems to be the western part of the US, which helps explain why I have never seen one.
Exactly. And that’s actually why I was so excited to see the Cinnamon Teal on Florida’s east coast at Merritt Island NWR 2 years ago ….Way off course!
https://www.imagineourflorida.org/cinnamon-teal/#:~:text=We%20are%20sure%20this%20striking,a%20winter%20stop%20in%