The Jones family of Imboden have some very unique visitors this week. Jim Jones sent us these wonderful photo’s of what he thinks to be tufted ducks that are currently staying in his pond.
Tufted ducks are medium sized diving ducks. The adult males are  black except for white flanks and a blue-grey bill. They have a tuft on the back of their head that gives the species its name. The adult female is brown with a lighter flank and has a smaller head tuft than the males.
Tufted ducks breed across Eurasia from Iceland and the British Isles east across Russia and Siberia to the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Commander Islands. There are no breeding records of tufted ducks in North America.
Their breeding habitat is close to marshes and lakes with plenty of vegetation to conceal the nest. The females usually lay an average of 9 eggs.  They are also found on coastal lagoons, seashore, and sheltered ponds.
These ducks are migratory, and spend winters in the milder south and west of Europe, southern Asia and all year in most of the United Kingdom. They will form large flocks on open water in winter.
In North America, the tufted duck is a regular visitor to western Alaska and a rare visitor along the east coast south to Maryland and the west coast to southern California. So it is unusual for the tufted ducks to be in Arkansas from what information we were able to come across.
Imboden Live would like to thank Jim Jones for sharing the photo’s of these special waterfowl and the information with our readers.
