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Ruddy duck
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=== Breeding and habits === [[File:RUDU family.jpg|thumb|A female ruddy duck with six ducklings]] Unlike other migratory anatine courtship where partnerships occur in wintering grounds, ruddy ducks often begin courtship on the breeding ground. Both male and female ruddy ducks have been observed interacting aggressively with each other but despite aggression, pairs can be seen loafing next to each other minutes later.<ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last1=Siegfried |first1=W. Roy |title=Social Organization in Ruddy and Maccoa Ducks |journal=The Auk |date=1976 |volume=93 |issue=3 |pages=560–570 |jstor=4084957 }}</ref> Their breeding habitat is marshy lakes and ponds. Both male and females are not known to be very vocal with quacks, though males are known to produce a distinct drumming sound by beating their lower mandible on their breast. This drumming beat is done hard enough that often swirls of bubbles will appear in the water. This display is known as "bubbling".<ref name=":2" /> In an aggressive response, the male faces his rival while performing bubbling. In courting, a bubbling male orientates his body laterally to the female. In a group of courting birds of more than one male, the males typically display rapidly alternating forms of bubbling in accordance with constantly and suddenly changing aggressive and sexual responses.<ref name=":4" /> In courting gestures females mostly respond to the male’s advances.<ref name=":2" /> They nest in dense marsh vegetation near water. The female builds the nest out of grass, locating it in tall vegetation to hide it from predators. A typical brood contains 5 to 15 ducklings.<ref name="LPZRuddyDuck" /> Pairs form each year. Though ruddy ducks can have large broods, the male normally takes no part in rearing.<ref name=":4" /> The female will incubate the eggs for 23–26 days whilst being protected by her mate.<ref name=":0" /> After the young hatch, it only takes about a month or two until they are fully ready to fly but as a result of the young being independent very quickly, they often stray from the rest of the brood. Females will care for her young but never for the entire period of the fledgling.<ref name=":2" /> Female ruddy ducks have been observed acting in [[brood parasitism]]. There hasn’t been a clear factor that influences females to lay their eggs in other nests. Though it was observed that parasitic eggs were more likely to be male than female hatchlings.<ref name=":4"/> Though some suspect that the parasitic laying is directly tied to the lack of attunement between the female ruddy duck and the environmental cues.<ref>{{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|756235016}} |last1=Reichart |first1=Letitia Marie |date=2008 |title=Conspecific brood parasitism in ruddy ducks (''Oxyura jamaicensis'') }}{{page needed|date=October 2024}}</ref> They are [[bird migration|migratory]] and winter in coastal bays and unfrozen lakes and ponds.
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