How to Identify a Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)

• Size compared with look-alikes: Male and Female: the smallest diving duck in North America
• Head pattern: Male: large white head patch running from the eye to the back of the head, with the rest of the head black showing iridescent green and purple overtones
• Head pattern: Female: small white patch on the head below and behind the eye, on an otherwise gray-brown head
• Body pattern: Male: bright white breast and sides, gray belly, black back; female is gray-brown overall
• Size compared with look-alikes: Male and Female: distinguished from goldeneyes because the white head patch is behind the eye in Bufflehead, versus forward of the eye near the bill base in goldeneyes

Bufflehead's white head patch sits behind the eye and covers much of the head, whereas goldeneyes show a smaller round or crescent white patch forward of the eye near the base of the bill The Common Goldeneye page lists its own marks.

Lakes, ponds, and rivers; salt bays and sheltered estuaries in winter Breeds across Alaska and boreal Canada; winters across coastal and interior waters of the continental US

Small enough to nest in old Northern Flicker holes, unlike larger cavity-nesting ducks; has a very fast wingbeat in flight

Shoot from water level if you can, with the sun behind you, so head pattern and the wing patch show their true colors. Get one frame with the bird side-on and one as it stretches or flaps, which exposes the speculum and belly. Note who it is swimming with; ducks flock by species. The app names the likely species; confirm with the marks above, and check the female separately, since females of many ducks look alike.