Aythya fuligula
A smart black-and-white diver with a wispy back-of-head tuft.
Size: 40-47 cm | Habitat: Pond, Lake & River Birds | Season: All year
Britain's most common diving duck, the male tufted duck is glossy black with brilliant white flanks and a golden eye, plus a thin drooping tuft of feathers at the back of the head. Females are dark brown with a shorter tuft.
Male: black body, white flanks, golden eye · Female: dark brown, paler flanks · both: drooping head tuft · compact, rounded shape low in the water
Unlike dabbling ducks such as the mallard, tufted ducks dive fully underwater to feed on molluscs, insect larvae, and plants, often popping back up some distance from where they went down.
A tufted duck can stay underwater for up to 20-30 seconds per dive, working its way along the bottom of a lake in a steady rhythm.
The Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) is Britain's commonest diving duck, easily told by the male's bold black-and-white plumage, golden eye, and the thin drooping tuft that gives the species its name. Females are dark brown, often with just a hint of the same head tuft.
Unlike dabbling ducks, tufted ducks feed by diving fully underwater, propelled by large webbed feet set far back on the body, and can spend a large part of the day submerged searching the bottom of lakes and reservoirs for molluscs, insect larvae, and plant matter. UK numbers swell in winter as birds arrive from Iceland and continental Europe to join resident breeders.
Understanding the tufted duck highlights how diving adaptations — a compact body, powerful feet, and buoyancy control — allow a bird to exploit food sources completely out of reach of surface-feeding ducks like the mallard.
🟢 Conservation status: Green (UK Birds of Conservation Concern 5)
Green-listed. The UK's tufted duck population has increased significantly since the mid-20th century, helped by the spread of flooded gravel pits and reservoirs that provide ideal diving habitat. Numbers are boosted further each winter by birds arriving from Iceland and continental Europe.