You are here
Species
Oxyura jamaicensis (J. F. Gmelin 1789)
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
Ruddy ducks are native to North and South America. These stiff-tailed ducks nest in western and central Canada and much of the western United States as far east as the Great Lakes region and south to central Texas, throughout Baja California, and to the transvolcanic belt in Mexico. Wintering range extends throughout most of southern North America, from California through the Great Lakes region and the Atlantic coast south of southern Maine to as far south as western Guatemala and El Salvador. Ruddy ducks were introduced to England in 1960 in Gloucestershire. From there these ducks have colonized Ireland and Belgium. Ruddy ducks introduced in Europe are migratory birds from the eastern United States and Mexico. Two subspecies including Oxyura jamaicensis ferruginea and Oxura jamaicensis andina can be found in the West Indies, Columbia, and throughout the Andes Mountains.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); palearctic (Introduced ); neotropical (Native )
- Gooders, J., T. Boyer. 1986. Ducks of North America and the Northern Hemisphere. New York: Facts On File, Inc..
- Pough, R. 1951. All the Birds of Eastern and Central North America. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company Inc..
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2013, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
Source | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Oxyura_jamaicensis/ |
Global Range: (>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)) BREEDING: In North America, the northern prairies are the most important breeding areas. Nesting occurs in east-central Alaska (casually), and from central and northeastern British Columbia, southwestern Mackenzie, northern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, and central Manitoba east across southern Canada to Nova Scotia, south to southern California, central Arizona, southern New Mexico, western and southern Texas, southwestern Louisiana, and northern Florida, with scattered, sporatic, or former breeding in several other areas in U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Breeds also in El Salvador, the West Indies (Bahamas [New Providence], Greater Antilles, and the Lesser Antilles south to Grenada). NON-BREEDING: in North America, winters primarily on the Pacific coast (mainly California, especially the Salton Sea area), secondarily on the Atlantic coast, and with about 20% of the population in the interior of the continent (the majority in Texas and Louisiana, plus a concentration along the Mississippi River between Mississippi and Arkansas). Winters southward from southern British Columbia, Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, and the Great Lakes, and on the Atlantic coast mainly in Chesapeake Bay and south through Pamlico Sound, south throughout the southern U.S. and most of Mexico to Honduras (sight record for Nicaragua), and throughout the Bahamas. Areas in North America where migrants may concentrate include the Klamath Basin in northern California, Minidoka NWR in Idaho, marshes adjacent to the Great Salt Lake, Malheur NWR in Oregon, Carson Sink in Nevada, and the region extending from North Dakota across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and southeastern Michigan to Chesapeake Bay. RESIDENT: in the Antilles and South America. INTRODUCED: established in England. Casual in Hawaii, southeastern Alaska, southern Yukon, and Bermuda. (AOU 1983, Sibley and Monroe 1990). See Bellrose (1980) for further details on the breeding and winter distribution in North America.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Oxyura+jamaicensis |
North America; Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; winter range extends from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License |
Source | http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=159100 |
Ruddy ducks are omnivorous. Their diet consists primarily of aquatic invertebrates and vegetation. Their spatulate bill is used to sieve food material from mud taken in during diving. Primary plant material consumed includes angiosperm seeds and other green plants. Aquatic invertebrates constitute a fraction of the diet, depending on seasonal abundance, including mostly Crustacea and Chironomidae larvae and pupae.
Animal Foods: insects; mollusks; aquatic or marine worms; aquatic crustaceans
Plant Foods: leaves; seeds, grains, and nuts
Primary Diet: omnivore
- Sanchez, M., A. Green, J. Dolz. 2000. The diets of the White-headed Duck Oxyura leucocephala, Ruddy Duck O. jamaicensis and their hybrids from Spain. Bird Study, 47: 275-284.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2013, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
Source | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Oxyura_jamaicensis/ |
In much of the range, nest initiation extends from May through July. Clutch size averages about 8 in North America. Incubation, by female, lasts about 23-26 days. In some areas, male often accompanies female and brood. Young can fly at about 6-7 weeks (Manitoba). Probably not all yearling females breed. Generally has high nesting success (Bellrose 1980).
In Manitoba, 5 nests may occur on a 4-acre pothole. In Iowa, nesting density may range from 1 nest/5.5 acres to 1 nest/11 acres in different habitat types (see Bellrose 1980).
Comments: O. FERRUGINEA (Andean Duck) formerly considered part of O. JAMAICENSIS (Sibley and Monroe 1990, AOU 1997). The population in the eastern Andes of Colombia is intermediate between JAMAICENSIS and FERRUGINEA and may be of hybrid origin, but Siegfried presented good evidence that it is a semispecies (treated as a race of O. JAMAICENSIS). The various species of OXYURA are sometimes regarded as a superspecies (O. LEUCOCEPHALA), but some forms are sympatric and relationships between species are uncertain (Sibley and Monroe 1990). See Livezey (1995) for a phylogeny of the Oxyurini based on morphology.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Oxyura+jamaicensis |
occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Oxyura+jamaicensis |
Comments: Diet varies with age, season, site (Bellrose 1976). Eats pondweeds, algae, wild celery; seeds of sedges, smartweeds, grasses; also eats insects and their larvae, shellfishes, crustaceans. During the breeding season in North Dakota, ate mainly invertebrates, primarily chironomid larvae and pupae (Woodin and Swanson 1989).
Ruddy ducks breed seasonally. They migrate to breeding grounds in late winter. When they get to their breeding areas males begin to perform courtship displays. A male swims around a female with his tail tilted forward and neck outstretched. He then slaps his chestnut-colored chest with his bright blue bill while making a courtship call. The male also uses his tail to stand and scoot across the surface of the water. When the female is satisfied with this performance, she stretches her neck with her bill open.
Mating System: monogamous ; polygynous
Ruddy ducks breed in spring and summer months, from May to August. When they arrive on the breeding grounds, females construct nests of aquatic plants just above the water level. They often build a dome over the nest to hide it from predators. About 4 weeks after arriving at the breeding grounds, females are ready to nest. Sometimes, though, females are ready to lay eggs before they have finished their own nests and they may simply lay eggs in unprotected areas that hatch after 23 to 26 days. Young ruddy ducks are well developed when they hatch. They stay in the nest 1 day after hatching and then are led away from the nest and into the water. At this point young ruddy ducks can dive to find food and can defend themselves. Parents abandon their young 20 to 30 days after hatching, but it takes another 20 to 35 days after that for the young ruddy ducks to learn how to fly.
Breeding interval: Ruddy ducks breed once yearly.
Breeding season: Breeding is from May to August.
Range eggs per season: 6 to 10.
Range time to hatching: 23 to 26 days.
Range fledging age: 50 to 55 days.
Range time to independence: 20 to 30 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 1 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 1 years.
Key Reproductive Features: seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
Average eggs per season: 8.
Female ruddy ducks construct and cover nests for their young, invest energy in making the eggs, and do all of the incubation of eggs. They also aggressively protect their young for several weeks after they hatch. Male ruddy ducks don't care for their young. They may remain near the female during incubation and after the young hatch, but they don't make any effort to protect or feed them.
Parental Investment: precocial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female)
- Siegfried, W. 1976. Social Organization in Ruddy and Maccoa Ducks. Auk, 93: 560-570.
- Joyner, D. 1977. Behavior of Ruddy Duck Broods in Utah. The Auk, 94: 343-349.
- Gooders, J., T. Boyer. 1986. Ducks of North America and the Northern Hemisphere. New York: Facts On File, Inc..
- Kortright, F. 1967. The Ducks, Geese, and Swans of North American. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: The Stackpole Company.
- Pough, R. 1951. All the Birds of Eastern and Central North America. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company Inc..
- Hughes, B. 2006. "Global Invasive Species Database" (On-line). Accessed November 09, 2007 at http://www.invasivespecies.net/database/species/ecology.asp?si=152&fr=1&sts=.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2012, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
Source | http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Oxyura_jamaicensis/ |
Canada
Origin: Native
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Present
Confidence: Confident
Type of Residency: Breeding
United States
Origin: Native
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Present
Confidence: Confident
Type of Residency: Year-round
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Oxyura+jamaicensis |