Bufflehead (male)

Description:

One of the smallest American ducks. The males have dark iridescent green and purple heads and a large white patch behind the eye. A white body with black on upper parts.

Habitat:

Spotted in a back-water slough at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. They are migratory and most of them winter in protected coastal waters, or open inland waters, on the east and west coasts of North America and the southern United States.