Bufflehead
Bucephala albeola
A male Bufflehead is shown in his breeding colors in the left photo, taken on January 28, 2016 at the MLK Regional Shoreline in Oakland, CA. A female Bufflehead is shown in the photo on the right, observed at Meeker Slough in Richmond, CA on January 22, 2015. Buffleheads are one of the smaller diving ducks. Ducks are divided into dabblers and divers, with dabblers mostly hunting from the water's surface while divers mostly hunt deeper underwater and are therefore generally found in deeper waters. Some other diving ducks are scaup, scoters, mergansers, goldeneyes, and ruddys. (Click on images to see enlarged versions of the Buffleheads.)