White-headed Duck

Oxyura leucocephala (Scopoli, 1769)

2018-08-26 Tyumen region, Sladkovsky district, lake Solyonoe (Tavolzhan)	© Mariya Lupinos

Description

The male of White-headed Duck in breeding plumage has mostly brownish-rusty color with little blackish-brown strikes and spots. The head is white with the black crown and black collar. The flight feathers are brownish, the axillaries are white, the tail is black; the upper tail coverts are dark-rusty, undertail is buffy with black strikes. The breast and flanks with the brown-rusty and black washing cross strips. The abdomen is grayish-brown. The female is distinguished from the male by the head's color; the female head is mostly dark-brown with the quite broad white strips above the eye and on the neck; the collar is grayish with brownish spots; the uppertail coverts are cross-striped. The male's bill is bright-blue, the female's one is grayish-blue; the legs are grey slightly greenish tinged. The eyes are nut-brown. Weight 510-890 grams, wing length 145-170 mm.

References