Photo credit: Ruddy duck, Tom Koerner/USFWS, Public Domain, https://www.fws.gov/media/ruddy-duck-4 

Ruddy Duck

Oxyura jamaicensis

Compiled by Lindsey Hernandez

From October through April, the compact, thick-necked Ruddy Duck is a familiar sight on Austin’s lakes and ponds. These small diving ducks migrate to the area and spend the cooler winter months on open water. They are often gathering in tight flocks on places like Lady Bird Lake, Hornsby Bend, and other reservoirs across Central Texas. They arrive in the fall after breeding in northern regions and linger until spring migration draws them north again. In their nonbreeding plumage, they appear mostly gray-brown with their characteristic stiff tails held jauntily upright, giving them a comically endearing look as they drift or dive in quiet corners of local waterways.

Ruddy Ducks are compact waterfowl with broad bills, large heads, and buoyant bodies built for diving rather than walking. Their short wings make them fast but clumsy fliers, and on land they shuffle awkwardly. In the water, however, they are remarkably agile, diving easily beneath the surface to forage. During Austin’s mild winters, they spend much of the day resting, their heads tucked under their wings, floating like little brown corks. When active, they dive repeatedly for food, often staying submerged for several seconds before popping back up with their tails pointing skyward.

Their diet is heavily focused on aquatic invertebrates, especially the larvae of midges, which they find by sifting through the mud at the bottoms of shallow ponds. Using specialized plates along the edges of their bills, they strain out mud and debris, swallowing the nutritious bits that remain. Both adults and ducklings eat insects, crustaceans, zooplankton, and small aquatic plants. Though they feed primarily underwater, they occasionally skim food from the surface as well. Midge larvae are especially abundant in Texas wetlands, making these areas ideal winter feeding grounds for Ruddy Ducks before they migrate back to their northern breeding territories.

By spring, most Ruddy Ducks begin moving north to breed across the prairie potholes and marshes of the western United States and Canada. It is there that their drab winter appearance transforms into the vivid breeding plumage that gives the species its name. Males take on a rich chestnut body, bright white cheeks, and a striking sky-blue bill. They perform elaborate courtship displays on the water to attract females, puffing up their necks, drumming their bills against their chests to create bubbles, and ending the performance with a curious belch-like call. Females choose their mates based on these displays, and though pairs are generally monogamous for the breeding season, males can be aggressive competitors, chasing rivals and even other species away from their territories.

Ruddy Ducks build their nests among dense marsh vegetation, using dry or green plant material to weave a bowl-shaped structure. Many nests are covered by a canopy of reeds for concealment. The female lays eggs that are proportionally the largest of any duck species, nearly 2 in wide and 2.5 in long, and incubates them alone. When the ducklings hatch, they are precocious and active, receiving only minimal care before setting off to feed themselves.

Though these ducks spend much of their lives on water, they face predators both above and below the surface. Hawks, owls, foxes, and raccoons prey upon adults, while gulls and mink often target their young. Their presence in Austin’s ponds and reservoirs each fall marks the quiet arrival of the cooler season.

Sources include the Texas Bird Atlas and Cornell Lab of Orinothology