Bufflehead

A flock of male and female Buffleheads swam by us along Olympia’s Capitol Lake on 25 December 2019. Buffleheads are North America’s smallest diving duck. One reason for this small size is that this tree-cavity-nesting duck often uses Northern Flicker holes. The ducks will also use human-made nesting boxes. Buffleheads are one of the few ducks that are almost entirely monogamous. Mates often pair for several years. Depite hunting being a significant factor in their mortaility, Buffleheads numbers have increased in the last fifty years (Gauthier 2014).