132 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
ducks; but a pied pattern in light and dark areas is more prevalent . . . 
highly gregarious in habit they often flock by hundreds of thousands 
over their favorite feeding grounds” (Eaton). 
Reference.—Millais, J. G., British Diving Ducks, 1913. 
REDHEAD: Nyroca americana (Eyton) 
Description. — Length: 17-21 inches, wing S.5-9.2, bill 2.-2.2, greatest width 
of bill .7-8. Weight: 1^ to V/% lbs. (Leopold). Head puffy, bill medium. Adult 
male in winter and breeding plumage: Head reddish , neck and foreparts of body black; 
back and forepart of wings gray from black and white vermiculations, posterior part 
of wings contrastingly lighter gray; speculum 
bluish gray bordered by white, axillars pure 
white, wing linings gray; upper and lower 
tail coverts black; belly white; iris yellow, 
bill bluish gray with black tip; legs and 
toes grayish, webs blackish. Adult male 
in post-nuptial eclipse (a partial eclipse): 
Head dull brownish red, back showing 
brown, breast and underparts mottled. 
Adult female inwinter and breeding plumage: 
Upperpartsand breast dark grayish brown, 
grayish buff or whitish around base of bill 
and lores; upper tail coverts brown, tip of 
tail whitish; wing like male; chin and belly 
white. Young injuvenal plumage: Similar 
to adult female but more mottled. 
Comparisons. — The Redhead and 
Canvasback are sometimes confused, but 
the high forehead and low, medium bill of 
the Redhead can easily be distinguished 
from the low flatfish forehead and high, 
long slanting bill of the Canvasback. The 
female Redhead maybe distinguished from 
the female Mallard and Gadwall by her 
unmottled, “ uniform brown color,” from the 
Golden-eye by absence of white wing patch, 
and from the female Scaup by absence of 
clear white face mark or white wing stripe 
(See pp. 134, 110, 115, 139). 
Range. —Breeds from central British Columbia, Great Slave Lake, central 
Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba, Minnesota, and Michigan south to Nebraska, 
southern Colorado, southwestern Utah, northern New Mexico, central Nevada, and 
southern California; winters (mainly in the southern United States) from southern 
Birtish Columbia, southeastern Arizona, northern Arkansas, northeastern Colorado, 
Lakes Erie and Ontario, east to Atlantic and south to Florida, Bahamas, Cuba, 
West Indies, and central Mexico. 
State Records. —Until recently it was supposed that the Redhead did not nest 
anywhere in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. The past few years 
some pairs have begun to nest at Barr Lake near Denver, Colorado, and also probably 
in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado. They were fairly common on the 
From Biological Survey 
Fig. 14. Redheads 
Sailing down to water 
