Bufflehead

Bucephala albeola

uncommon
40 km/h
Least Concern

Smallest North American diving duck, with an oversized iridescent head. Nests in old woodpecker holes.

Population: ~1.3 million mature individuals (Partners in Flight, 2018 estimate, cited by BirdLife International); population trend increasing (>1.5%/year 1966–2015 per Wikipedia/BBS; BirdLife notes ~88% increase over the past three generations)
Habitat: Breeds on small wooded lakes and ponds in boreal forest and aspen parkland across Canada/Alaska (with some western U.S. populations), nesting almost exclusively in old Northern Flicker (occasionally Pileated Woodpecker) tree cavities in poplar/aspen (pine in California); winters in sheltered coastal bays, estuaries, harbors and beaches as well as inland lakes, ponds and slow rivers.
Fun fact: The Bufflehead is North America's smallest diving/sea duck and depends almost entirely on tree cavities excavated by Northern Flickers for nesting, tying its breeding range closely to that woodpecker's distribution; the oldest known banded individual was at least 18 years and 8 months old (banded/recaught in New York, first ringed 1993).
Range: Breeds across Alaska and Canada (with some western U.S. breeding); winters throughout the contiguous United States (both coasts, Great Lakes, interior waterways) and into coastal Mexico; a full migrant with a very large range (breeding extent ~11 million km², non-breeding ~17.3 million km²); rare vagrant to western Europe and occasional vagrant to Caribbean islands.
Diet: Diving duck feeding mainly on aquatic invertebrates: insect larvae (e.g., dragonfly/damselfly nymphs, midges, snails) in freshwater; crustaceans and mollusks (shrimp, crabs, amphipods, isopods, mussels, snails) plus fish eggs (herring eggs) and small fish (sculpins, ratfish) in saltwater; aquatic plant seeds eaten occasionally/locally. Typical dives last ~12 seconds (rarely over 25) to depths of roughly 1.2–4.5 m.
Size: 0.355 m
Wingspan: 0.55 m
Lifespan: 18 years

Bufflehead

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