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Nashville Warbler Neotropic Cormorant Northern Bobwhite Northern Cardinal Northern Flicker Northern Fulmar Northern Gannet Northern Goshawk Northern Harrier Northern Hawk Owl Northern Mockingbird Northern Parula Northern Pintail Northern Rough-winged Swallow Northern Saw-whet Owl Northern Shoveler Northern Shrike Northern Waterthrush Northwestern Crow Nuttall’s Woodpecker Oak Titmouse Olive-sided Flycatcher Orange-crowned Warbler Orchard Oriole Osprey Ovenbird Pacific Golden-Plover Pacific Loon Pacific-slope Flycatcher Painted Bunting Painted Redstart Palm Warbler Pectoral Sandpiper Pelagic Cormorant Peregrine Falcon Phainopepla Philadelphia Vireo Pied-billed Grebe Pigeon Guillemot Pileated Woodpecker Pine Grosbeak Pine Siskin Pine Warbler Pinyon Jay Piping Plover Plain Chachalaca Plumbeous Vireo Prairie Falcon Prairie Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Purple Finch Purple Gallinule Purple Martin Purple Sandpiper Pygmy Nuthatch Pyrrhuloxia Razorbill Red Crossbill Red Knot Red Phalarope Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-breasted Merganser Red-breasted Nuthatch Red-breasted Sapsucker Red-cockaded Woodpecker Red-eyed Vireo Red-faced Warbler Red-headed Woodpecker Red-naped Sapsucker Red-necked Grebe Red-necked Phalarope Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Red-throated Loon Red-winged Blackbird Reddish Egret Redhead Ring-billed Gull Ring-necked Duck Ring-necked Pheasant Rock Pigeon Rock Ptarmigan Rock Sandpiper Rose-breasted Grosbeak Roseate Spoonbill Roseate Tern Ross’s Goose Rough-legged Hawk Royal Tern Ruby-crowned Kinglet Ruby-throated Hummingbird Ruddy Duck Ruddy Turnstone Ruffed Grouse Rufous Hummingbird Rufous-capped Warbler Rufous-winged Sparrow Rusty Blackbird Sabine’s Gull Sage Sparrow Sage Thrasher Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow Sanderling Sandhill Crane Sandwich Tern Savannah Sparrow Say’s Phoebe Scaled Quail Scarlet Tanager Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Scott’s Oriole Seaside Sparrow Sedge Wren Semipalmated Plover Semipalmated Sandpiper Sharp-shinned Hawk Sharp-tailed Grouse Short-billed Dowitcher Short-eared Owl Slate-throated Redstart Smith’s Longspur Smooth-billed Ani Snail Kite Snow Bunting Snow Goose Snowy Egret Snowy Plover Solitary Sandpiper Song Sparrow Sooty Grouse Sora Spotted Owl Spotted Sandpiper Spotted Towhee Sprague’s Pipit Spruce Grouse Steller’s Jay Stilt Sandpiper Summer Tanager Surf Scoter Surfbird Swainson’s Hawk Swainson’s Thrush Swainson’s Warbler Swallow-tailed Kite Swamp Sparrow Tennessee Warbler Thick-billed Murre Townsend’s Solitaire Townsend’s Warbler Tree Swallow Tricolored Heron Tropical Kingbird Trumpeter Swan Tufted Puffin Tufted Titmouse Tundra Swan Turkey Vulture Upland Sandpiper Varied Bunting Varied Thrush Vaux’s Swift Veery Verdin Vermilion Flycatcher Vesper Sparrow Violet-green Swallow Virginia Rail Virginia’s Warbler Warbling Vireo Western Bluebird Western Grebe Western Gull Western Kingbird Western Sandpiper Western Screech-Owl Western Tanager Western Wood-Pewee Western-Meadowlark Whimbrel White Ibis White-breasted Nuthatch White-crowned Pigeon White-crowned Sparrow White-eyed Vireo White-faced Ibis White-headed Woodpecker White-rumped Sandpiper White-tailed Hawk White-tailed Kite White-tailed Ptarmigan White-throated Sparrow White-throated Swift White-tipped Dove White-winged Crossbill White-winged Dove White-winged Scoter Whooping Crane Wild Turkey Willet Williamson’s Sapsucker Willow Flycatcher Willow Ptarmigan Wilson’s Phalarope Wilson’s Plover Wilson’s Snipe Wilson’s Warbler Winter Wren Wood Duck Wood Stork Wood Thrush Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay Worm-eating Warbler Wrentit Yellow Rail Yellow Warbler Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Yellow-billed Cuckoo Yellow-billed Magpie Yellow-breasted Chat Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-headed Blackbird Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-throated Vireo Yellow-throated Warbler Zone-tailed Hawk

Redhead Identification

Sam Crowe
Updated: March 16, 2023
Diving Ducks
Redhead pair

 Length: 19 inches, Wing span: 29 inches

Redheads are very widespread across North America, particularly in migration and winter, and they winter in large flocks along the Gulf Coast. Redheads are well known for parasitizing other duck nests, and some females do not even build a nest of their own, but instead lay all of their eggs in the nests of other ducks.

As a diving duck, Redheads are rarely seen on land, and they require a running start across the water to take flight. Pairs form during the winter, and they move north to the breeding grounds together. The record known lifespan for a wild Redhead is 21 years.

Female Redheads are a gray-brown with a variable reddish wash on the head.  (sorry, no images of Lucille Ball or Ann Margaret). Fine eye ring and line behind the eye. Similar to female Ring-necked Duck.

Male Redhead

Males have a black chest. Flanks and back not as pale as Canvasback.  Photograph © Alan Wilson

Male redhead

Note the black nail and the narrow white band that fades into blue on most of the bill. Photograph © Alan Wilson.

Juveniles, eclipse males are all similar in appearance.  Depending on the age, sex and molt stage there can be significant difference in the appearance but all can usually be identified, if by nothing else, than “what else could it be?”

Female redhead

Photograph © Alan Wilson

What about this bird in the images above and below?  The cheek is much paler than the other females and the forehead has a more sloped appearance.

Female redhead

Photograph © Alan Wilson

Female redhead

Photograph © Glenn Bartley.

Now how about these two birds – above and below? The bill on the above bird is black, no hint of a white line extending back and down from the eye. Perhaps the lighting resulted in a bill that looked entirely black?

The bird below has the typical bill color and a stronger broken eye ring than other females on this page.

Female redhead

Photograph © Greg Lavaty

Female redhead

A close up of the head.  Pale cheek patch.  Almost no eye ring. Photograph © Greg Lavaty

Male redhead in flight

Pale wing linings underneath.  Photograph © Greg Lavaty.

Male redhead in flight

Thin white line on trailing edge of wing.  Wings generally have a 2-tone appearance but lack a colorful speculum.  Photograph © Greg Lavaty.

Male redhead stretching his wings

Male stretching his wings before take off.  Photograph © Greg Lavaty.

Redhead female in flight

Female.  Photograph © Greg Lavaty.

Redhead female in flight

Female.  Photograph © Greg Lavaty

Redhead female in flight

Female.  Note dark feet and legs.  Photograph © Greg Lavaty.

Redheads in flight

Can you spot the female?  Photograph © Greg Lavaty.

Redheads in flight

Photograph © Greg Lavaty.

Long, pointed wings.  Males distinctive, females generally plain looking with white belly and pale area at the base of the bill.  Pale area at the base of the bill less striking than on female scaup.

Redheads in flight

Photograph © Greg Lavaty

Male Redheads are easy to identify at a distance, lone females would offer a greater challenge.

About the Author

Sam Crowe
Sam is the founder of Birdzilla.com. He has been birding for over 30 years and has a world list of over 2000 species. He has served as treasurer of the Texas Ornithological Society, Sanctuary Chair of Dallas Audubon, Editor of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's "All About Birds" web site and as a contributing editor for Birding Business magazine. Many of his photographs and videos can be found on the site.

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