Bucephala albeola
Order Anseriformes
Family Anatidae
Subfamily Anatinae
Other names: Buffle-head
♂ Adult male.— A snow-white patch from back of eye over top of head; rest of head and neck apparently black, crested and puffed out at the side (at close range showing purple, violet, and green reflections); broad ring around neck and under parts pure white; back black; wings black, with large white patches; bill dark gray; legs and feet flesh-color.
♀ Adult female.— Head, neck, and upper parts sooty-brown; large spot back of eye whitish; wings brown, showing white when spread; under parts (except throat and neck) white; bill, legs, and feet dusky.
Nest, generally in a hole in a tree, usually near the water.
Eggs, grayish-white, tinged with green.
The Buffle-head is a rather common migrant in October, March, and April along the coast of New York and New England, occurring also on large inland streams and ponds. It is a rather uncommon winter visitant from southern Maine southward, and is reported as breeding sparingly in northeastern Maine (Knight). It is the smallest of the sea ducks, and among the river ducks only the Green-winged Teal is smaller. It dives with the quickness of a grebe. Its habits along the sea-coast are similar to those of the Whistler [Common Goldeneye], and it is often associated with that species, preferring the mouths of rivers, and the harbors and coves along the shore to the shoals well out at sea.
A male may be known by the large patch of white in the head, extending from behind the eye to the top of the head. The head-feathers are long, and give the head a“ bushy” look. The female and young males have a white patch extending from the eye to the back of the head. [See Common Goldeneye, and the Hooded Merganser]
NOTE.— Barrow’s Golden-eye, Clangula islandica [Bucephala islandica], a species which resembles the following closely in appearance and habit, is a rare winter visitant on the Maine coast. The chief differences are in the purplish-blue of the head, and the shape of the white spot before the eye, which in this species is twice as large and somewhat crescent shaped. It would not ordinarily be safe to attempt to distinguish the two species, unless the birds were in the hand.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)