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Buffleheads in Prescott

By now, most seasonal visitors to Arizona's deserts have decamped for cooler climates north.  Any recreational vehicles you see on the state's highways are either heading in that direction or toward a pleasant seaside coast.  Likewise, many birds have taken weather cues and migrated to chillier breeding grounds.

I thought I had exhausted all my chances of uncovering new, unseen-before winter visitors on the area waterways after I discovered my first canvasbacks and common mergansers in January.  But the season had one more treat in store for me after I ran into some buffleheads on Watson Lake in cooler Prescott this past week.

While I did actually photograph a pair of males on nearby Willow Lake last year, this year I finally got to see a female along with what might be her breeding partner.  This species of duck doesn't tend to flock in any sizable numbers, and while they don't necessarily mate for life, individual males and females tend to breed and migrate together over multiple seasons.  The male, or drake, has a bold pattern on his head; unfortunately I didn't get close enough to capture a photograph that shows its green and purple plumage. 

Buffleheads spend their winters over a wide range of the southern United States, but migrate to forests in Canada and Alaska for summer breeding.  Finding a drake and a hen along with an additional lone male in the state was an exciting find while I was just beginning my hunt for migratory birds arriving from the south.


Male bufflehead on Watson Lake, in Prescott.

Male bufflehead, Prescott. He's not in breeding plumage, so looks drabber than first male.

Female and male buffleheads.

Male and female buffleheads.

Two male buffleheads above Willow Lake, Prescott, 2018.

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