You know you’ve been birding too long when you Google “Redhead” and expect that the top listed site will be about a waterfowl. Not even close. There was “The Truth About Redheads,” “Redheads have been Feared and Vilified Throughout History,” and many others in similar or sometimes more risqué vein. But the bird called the Redhead did not come up in Google until page two, listing number 22. Bing was better; Redhead (the bird) was listing number seven.

What if birds used Google?

“How to be a Redhead”

You probably didn’t realize that you don’t need red hair to be a Redhead. Click here to learn more.

It’s been scientifically verified that female Redheads are a soft brown color—not red. The same is true of the young of both sexes. Only the mature male has a striking cinnamon red head, but even then it’s only at its reddest for about half the year. The rest of the year, it’s a more subdued rufous color. Visit our sister site for more fascinating facts about Redheads, to see where you fall.

“13 Fascinating Facts About Redheads”

Thirteen! Come on, nobody is interested in learning that many fascinating facts about anything. But we’ve got sponsors to promote, so here at least are a few:

1. Redheads are diving ducks, feeding mainly on crustaceans and insects during the breeding season, and submerged aquatic plants the rest of the time.

2. Redheads are very gregarious, readily joining other flocks of waterfowl on open water. They are very easily attracted by decoys, making them very popular with duck hunters.

3. Winter flocks in the Gulf of Mexico can number as many as 60,000 Redheads.

4. The nest is built by the female. She chooses a place among the rushes and reeds of wetland areas, where she plucks reeds and other vegetation to weave a platform as large as 9” x 24”. Submerged vegetation serves as anchor and support, while down plucked from her own chest provides padding and warmth. To add to the nest’s comfort and seclusion, she often bends surrounding rushes to form a makeshift canopy over the nest.

5. Redheads are known as a “brood parasitic” species. In a practice actually quite common among waterfowl, female Redheads often lay their eggs in the nests of other species—even in the nests of ground-nesting predators like the Northern Harrier. Now that’s pluck.

“Redheads from 20 Countries”

Redheads breed only in Canada, US and maybe some small sections of northern Mexico. There may be errant individuals as far as east Asia and western Europe during migration, but for the most part Redheads are a waterfowl of the Americas. They were not given the taxonomic name Aythya americana for nothing.

But if we ignore the semantics, and count the countries where they are spotted in giro, we hit twenty right on the nose:

Canada, USA, Mexico and the seven countries of Central America. Ten already. NEXT=>

Cuba and the Bahamas. NEXT=>

Japan, Iceland, Germany, Netherlands. Sixteen and counting. NEXT=>

England and Wales. (We might be making too fine a distinction here.) NEXT=>

Bermuda and the Caymen Islands. (OK, now we’re really stretching it.)

BINGO! 20 advertisers satisfied.

“What Growing Up a Redhead Meant for My Self-Confidence”

I was a shy hen growing up. My siblings and I were always dragged along on family visits to the Gadwalls and the Canvasbacks, but I kept to the background even more than the others. When I was old enough to start my own brood, my body kept making eggs, but I wasn’t confident that I could manage a nest with more than four or five. The Gadwalls and the Canvasbacks all seemed to have their stuff together, even with larger families. So during visits to their nests, I would sneak an egg or two into their brood. No one ever noticed.

It only took a couple of breeding seasons before I gained my self-confidence and kept my eggs in my own nest. And as my confidence grew, I just pretended to ignore it when a Wood Duck or a Merganser would lay an egg in my nest, too.

“50 Famous Redheads”

If you’re looking for tricks to plug for your advertisers, why stop at 50? The Redhead population is estimated at about 1.2 million, of which as many as 500 hang out in Lake Michigan at the park that I frequent. Those are 500 very famous Redheads in my books. I will miss them dearly when they head north come spring.

Dan's Feathursday Feature is a bi-weekly contribution to the COS blog featuring the thoughts, insights and pictures of Chicago birder, Dan Lory on birds of the Chicago region.

Dan's Feathursday Feature: Redhead