BLUEBILLS, BUFFLEHEADS AND RUDDIES

     Rafts of several kinds of diving, bay ducks winter on the broad expanses of the Chesapeake Bay, including common goldeneyes, buffleheads, three kinds of scoters, red-breasted mergansers, canvasbacks, redheads, two closely related species of scaups, and ruddy ducks.  And of all these kinds of ducks wintering on estuaries and harbors off the oceans, the scaups, which are also known as bluebills, buffleheads and ruddies are the most common.  Each species can be spotted in large rafts of their own, or in mixed flotillas of hundreds of ducks, on larger bodies of water.  There those buoyantly bobbing ducks rest and sleep between feeding forays.  

     Diving ducks are entertaining to watch leaping or rolling forward slightly from the surface of estuaries and harbors to dive under water several feet down to get food on the bottom of those estuaries and harbors.  I enjoy watching them dive on large waters through live cameras and our computer screen.  

     The speedy flight of bay ducks is thrilling and inspiring to see.  As groups, they take off by running over the water, while vigorously flapping their wings, to get airborne.  One can sense the power in their flight muscles and rapid wing beats.  Their flights are often in group formations, like wavelets sliding up a beach, or in long, swift lines.

     Female scaups, buffleheads and ruddies are mostly brown, which camouflages them when raising ducklings.  Hen scaups, however, have white feathering at the bases of their beaks while female buffleheads have a white streak on each cheek.  

     Drake scaups and buffleheads are handsome in winter.  Male scaups are light-gray across their backs and wings, and have dark heads.  Drake buffleheads have black and white plumages.             

     Scaups, or bluebills, are the most common diving, bay ducks in North America.  They number in the millions.  There are many thousands on Chesapeake Bay alone. 

     Bluebills raise ducklings near freshwater lakes across western Canada and in Alaska.  Each hen makes a cradle of grass, hidden on the ground, under tall grasses.  Ducklings feed on insects and other kinds of invertebrates, while adults feed a lot on aquatic plants.  Scaups in winter ingest small crustaceans, molluscs, including blue mussels, seeds and water vegetation.

     Wintering buffleheads consume small crustaceans, snails, small fish and water plants.  Scaups and buffleheads may compete with each other a bit for food.  

     Female buffleheads hatch ducklings in tree cavities, including abandoned woodpecker nurseries.  The young jump out of the cavities and follow their respective mothers to ponds or lakes to feed.

     Female ruddies raise young in freshwater marshes and near ponds across Canada.  Each hen creates a grass cradle among marsh vegetation that hide the young from predators.  

     Bay ducks are interesting to watch diving for food on large expanses of water through winter.  But one needs a scope to see those birds so far out on the water.       


       

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