What Makes You Stare So, Bufflehead?

By November 18, 2006 5 comments

November visits upon New York dank, leaden chill and multitudes of ducks. I vastly prefer the latter, particularly those species that don’t frequent this area during the warmer months. One beloved bird to keep an eye out for is the Bufflehead, a beauty in black and white. Bufflehead are fascinating little creatures. They are exceptional divers and, unlike other diving ducks, can take off from the water without running along the surface. There are all kinds of interesting facts about this species, and yet, a mere listing of its many estimable traits will naturally fail to address the question which is doubtless on everybody’s lips: What’s with that name?

The tale of Bucephala albeola is a long one indeed, with as many twists and turns as the Pacific Coast Highway. Called petit garrot in French and hime-ha-jiro ‘princess white-wing’ by the Japanese, the bufflehead has seen a number of name changes here in the U. S. of A. Even its Latin name is not its first; for some reason, it was formerly named Choritonetta albeola.


Bufflehead in flight by Corey Finger

Bufflehead comes from the now archaic word buffle, meaning ‘buffalo.’  Bufflehead is the condensed version of ‘Buffalo Head’, the name these ducks were originally given. I suppose the densely feathered, black and white head of the drake does slightly resemble a buffalo’s head. These birds have also been called buffel duck, spirit duck, and butterball. That’s a long list for a little bird.


Female Bufflehead by Corey Finger

A bufflehead may be cute on waterfowl, but it garners much less respect on Homo sapiens. Predictably, the term can be used to describe someone who has a large head or, alternately, a heavy, stupid fellow. The title of this post is a line attributed to Plautus, a renowned playwright of ancient Rome, one I suspect that wasn’t directed towards a duck.


Bufflehead by Mike Bergin

Check out Corey’s gallery of bushels of Bufflehead in flight.

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About the Author

Mike

Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but what he really aspires to be is a naturalist. Besides founding 10,000 Birds and I and the Bird, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining sites and resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network.

5 Responses to “What Makes You Stare So, Bufflehead?”

  1. Thanks for the very interesting info and the nice pic. I’m very fond of these birds too.

  2. My pleasure, Enchilada.

  3. We live on a small lake in southern Michigan (Jackson). We get a large gathering every spring estimated around seventy. Not only do they arrrive at about the same date, but in the exact same location on the lake. They are here for aproximately one week. Very active!

  4. Fellow worker spotted these cute little guys floating and diving on local Mosquito Creek in Northeastern Ohio, just the other day. We searched and found a bunch of the buffleheads feeding in the stream. Just 4 days ago I spotted a Bald Eagle flying over the creek in the very same spot and it fished out a nice size fish for dinner. Our old polluted creek is recovering nicely and we hope to host many other interesting birds in the future! Kat

  5. It’s a Sunday morning, and I am watching a single male on our pond outside of Kalamazoo, MI. I’ve never seen a bufflehead before; I hope he’ll stick around for a while, because he is a beauty and really fun to watch!

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