Tufted Duck (female and male)

Description:

Come fly with me! These Tufted Ducks in flight are easily recognized with their prominent white wing-bars and yellow eyes. In the first 2 shots, the female, on the left, shows a brown head and plumage. The male, on the right, shows a dark shiny plumage and well-defined white flanks.The tufts are not well visible in flight.

Habitat:

The shores of a large Central European lake.

Notes:

During the sixties, the zebra mussel spread to colonize lakes and rivers in Switzerland. Many ducks, including the tufted duck, got a new source of food as a consequence. Tufted ducks reacted quickly to this new food source and have expanded their wintering area to the southwest of Europe.