Redhead

How to find it

Treat any sighting as a bonus. Look at wetlands and ponds in the northern winter, especially in Guanacaste, where the documented records were made. Scan groups of diving ducks for a reddish head. Then check for a rounded head and a pale blue bill with a white ring behind the black tip. Remember that eclipse-plumage males look drab, so check head shape and bill pattern on every Aythya duck. Ring-necked Duck and Lesser Scaup are far more likely, so a careful look at each bird matters.

How to recognise it

These marks describe the species in general, not only birds in Costa Rica.

Breeding male: copper-colored head, orange-yellow eyes, gray back and flanks, black chest and tail, white belly.

Both sexes: pale blue bill with a white ring behind a black tip.

Female: yellowish brown head with a faint pale ring around the eye.

Head shape: the Redhead has a rounded head, which helps separate it from the Canvasback.

Be careful with drab birds. The Costa Rican study shows an adult male in eclipse plumage, the dull post-breeding look, which may be mistaken for other ducks. Head shape and bill pattern are the best clues.

What it sounds like

Recording: jd_flores, CC0 1.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

Redheads are diving ducks. They feed by diving or by submerging part of the body, so watch for birds that disappear and resurface.

Across their range they often gather in large floating flocks called rafts, especially in winter. After breeding, males molt and cannot fly for almost a month. Female Redheads often lay eggs in other females' nests, including those of at least 10 other duck species. All of this is general behavior, not a Costa Rica observation.

Where it lives

Across its range the Redhead breeds in marshes and prairie potholes in western North America. It winters in the southern and northeastern US, the Great Lakes region, northern Mexico and the Caribbean, mostly on sheltered saltwater bays and estuaries, with some on inland lakes.

In Costa Rica the records come from wetlands surveyed in different parts of the country over three northern winters, including catfish aquaculture ponds near Carrillo in Guanacaste. Its usual wintering areas are in Mexico or northern Central America, so Costa Rica lies well south of normal.

When to see it

In Costa Rica, Redheads were recorded in the northern winter seasons from 2010 to 2013. The first sighting was on 21 November 2011.

Similar birds

Other Aythya diving ducks on the Costa Rican list include the Ring-necked Duck and Lesser Scaup. Both are migrants, so they are far more likely to be seen than a Redhead. The Canvasback has a similar color pattern but a sloping forehead and a long sloping bill, and it is also accidental here, as are Common Pochard and Greater Scaup. Check bill pattern and head color to separate them.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The official Costa Rican list gives Porrón Americano, with Pato Cabeza Roja as the common name in brackets. A Costa Rican bird site also lists it as pato. Other Spanish names for the species elsewhere include Porrón Cabecirrojo and Porrón de Cabeza Roja.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican list, updated in June 2026 to 944 species, still classes the Redhead as accidental (A), a rare vagrant.