RUDDY DUCK 

 ( Oxyura jamaicensis ) 



[DU: Rosse Stekestaart, FR: Erismature roux, Erismature joues blancs; GE: 

 Schwarzkopf Ruderente, SP: Malvasia canelo, SW: Araerikansk kopparand] 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



North America The Ruddy Duck breeds from north-central British Columbia, 

 northern Alberta, central Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba south to southern 

 California, central Arizona, northern New Mexico, and western and southern Texas. 

 Nesting has occasionally occurred in Alaska, the north-central and eastern Unit- 

 ed States, Florida, Louisiana, southern Baja California, central Mexico, and 

 Guatemala. The species winters from southern British Columbia, Idaho, Colorado, 

 Kansas, the Great Lakes, and Massachusetts south through the United States and 

 most of Mexico into Central America and in the Bahamas (AOU 1957, Bellrose 1976, 

 Palmer 1976b). 



World Distribution Subspecies of the Ruddy Duck are resident throughout 

 the West Indies, the Greater Antilles, and the Lesser Antilles south to Grenada, 

 and in the Andes of South America from Colombia to Argentina and Chile (AOU 

 1957, Meyer de Schauensee 1966, Bond 1971). An introduced population is estab- 

 lished in Britain (Cramp et al. 1977). 



DISTRIBUTION IN THE COASTAL SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 



The Ruddy Duck is common as a migrant and winter visitor in the southeast- 

 ern states; it breeds regularly in Texas but has been found nesting only rarely 

 elsewhere in the region. The movement of birds from the Caribbean population 

 to the southeastern coast of the United States has not been documented but is a 

 possibility. 



North Carolina Ruddy Ducks are common winter residents from October to May 

 along the coast of North Carolina, but are less common inland (Potter et al . 

 1980). The principal wintering ground along the Atlantic Seaboard extends from 

 Pamlico Sound in North Carolina northward into Chesapeake Bay (Bellrose 1976). 

 The 1975 winter waterfowl survey recorded 9,300 Ruddy Ducks in North Carolina 

 and about another 3,000 were killed there during the preceding hunting season 

 (Goldsberry et al. 1980). 



Two pairs nested at Pea Island in 1953 (Wray and Davis 1959) but this seems 

 to be the only record of extralimital nesting in North Carolina. Birds occasi- 

 onally summer on impoundments or other bodies of water (Teulings 1970a, 1971c, 

 1972c, 1973b). 



South Carolina These ducks are common winter residents in coastal South 

 Carolina and are seldom found in the interior (Sprunt and Chamberlain 1949). 

 Bellrose (1976) estimated a winter population of about 4,000 along the coast. 



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