REDHEAD 

 ( Aythya americana ) 



[FR: Milouin americain, GE: Rotkopf ente , SP: Cabeza roja] 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



North America Redheads breed in North America from central British Colum- 

 bia, northern Alberta, southern Mackenzie, southern Saskatchewan, southern Man- 

 itoba, and northwestern Minnesota south through central and eastern Washington 

 and Oregon to central California (Small 1974), northwestern Nevada, north-cen- 

 tral Arizona, southeriy-Colorado , central Nebraska, northwestern Iowa, and less 

 commonly in Wisconsin, Michigan, and the Lake Erie marshes to northwestern Penn- 

 sylvania and western New York (Bellrose 1976, Palmer 1976b). Since the late 

 1950 's, the Redhead has expanded its breeding range to Alaska and several south- 

 ern and eastern states and provinces, including Maine and New Brunswick (Weller 

 1964). It has been introduced into New York (Benson and Browne 1969) and iso- 

 lated breeding records have been reported in Kansas (Palmer 1976b), Texas 

 (Rhodes 1979), and Jalisco, Mexico (Williams 1975). 



In the winter, Redheads occur from southern British Columbia, Idaho, south- 

 western Wyoming, southwestern Colorado, northern Texas, southern Arkansas, south- 

 ern Illinois, the Great Lakes, central New York, and Connecticut south through 

 the United States and Mexico. They reach their southern limits in Guatemala and 

 on islands in the Caribbean (AOU 1957, Weller 1964, Bond 1971, Bellrose 1976, 

 Palmer 1976b). 



World Distribution The Redhead breeds exclusively in North America; it oc- 

 curs casually in Bermuda (AOU 1957, Palmer 1976b), and has straggled to Hawaii 

 (Berger 1972), Greenland, the New Siberian Archipelago (Palmer 1976b), and Swe- 

 den (Bauer et al. 1980). 



DISTRIBUTION IN THE COASTAL SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 



North Carolina The Redhead is a common winter resident in North Carolina. 

 It is found chiefly on the salt and brackish waters of the coast, and rarely 

 inland (Pearson et al. 1942). Bellrose (1976) noted a concentration of 6,000 

 in Currituck and Albemarle sounds, and Potter et al. (1980) remarked that it is 

 fairly common in most years in Core and Pamlico sounds. The January 1975 win- 

 ter waterfowl survey recorded 6,700 birds (Goldsberry et al. 1980), making North 

 Carolina the third most important wintering ground for Redheads along the Atlan- 

 tic coast (behind Rhode Island and Florida). At Pea Island NWR, 7,000 were 

 counted in late November 1975 (Teulings 1976a) and 3,000 were there in December 

 1976 (Teulings 1976b, LeGrand 1977a). 



South Carolina Sprunt and Chamberlain (1949) considered the Redhead an 

 uncommon and erratic winter visitor throughout the state, occurring most fre- 

 quently in coastal areas. Single birds are most commonly seen, although pairs 



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