Identification Tips:
Length: 11 inches Wingspan: 23 inches
Small, chunky diving duck
Long stiff-tail is often held vertically
Dark wings
Immature similar to adult female
Adult male alternate:
Alternate plumage worn in Spring and Summer
Brilliant blue bill
Black crown and nape
Rust-red lower neck, breast, back and body
White face
Black tail
Adult male basic(eclipse):
Eclipse plumage worn Fall-Winter
Dark gray bill
Dark cap
Face white, as in alternate plumage
Gray brown neck and body plumage
Adult female:
Like winter male, but with dusky horizontal stripe crossing pale gray cheek patch
Similar species:
Most other diving ducks do not have the long, stiff tail of the Ruddy Duck. Hooded Mergansers can sometimes hold their tails erect like Ruddy Ducks, but have crests and long thin bills. The rare Masked Duck of South Florida and South Texas has a similar shape but adult male in alternate plumage has dark face, and the female, and immature and eclipse-plumaged males have a buff head with a dark cap, dark eyeline and dark line below eye.
The ruddy duck often dives or swims away from danger rather than flying. When flying, their small wings stroke so fast they resemble bumblebees.
They are early to mid-fall migrants. Drakes often cock their tails upright at an angle, the only species to habitually do so. Both hens and drakes are silent in the fall.
