Ruddy Duck Gallery

Off Color

During the breeding season, male ruddies have ruddy backs and bright blue bills, but they look a little off color in their nonbreeding plumage. The ruddy color disappears and the bill darkens, but they still retain the dark top of the head and white cheeks.

Yes, But Not Like This

I was delighted when I first saw ruddy ducks in the wild when we moved to Oregon. They were so different from the ducks I was used to, tiny little things with the males decked out in a brilliant blue bill during the breeding season. My first attempts at photographing them were almost comical, the ducks were a long ways away so they were hardly visible in the pictures.

Undaunted by my early failures, I'll photograph them every chance I get and am always delighted to find one at close range. Almost always — but not like this.

While this male appears to be doing the backstroke, the reality was not so pleasant. It was struggling mightily just to swim around, listing heavily to one side and going in circles, so my first thought was that a leg had been caught by something from below. Sometimes it would roll completely over as it did here, and there was nothing obviously wrong with it.

I'm not sure if the problem was psychological or physical, but it was hard to watch, as the little duck was spending a lot of energy just to swim around and even just to keep its head above the water. It was still able to dive although it was impossible to tell how well it could swim underwater. I didn't see it on my next visit to the refuge a week or two later, so I'm not sure if I just missed it, if the duck got better, or if it died on its own or at the hands of one of the bald eagles.

I hope your suffering was brief little one.

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