stifftail

stifftail, any of several small, round ducks with short wings and long, spiky tail feathers, of the tribe Oxyurini, family Anatidae (order Anseriformes). A common and typical stifftail is the ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) of North America. In most species the drake has shiny reddish plumage and a bright-blue bill in breeding season; at other times he is drab. Hens are plainly coloured birds with a line or two crossing the face. A stifftail uses its specialized tail feathers for steering underwater in search of food. Stifftails can scarcely get about on land; like most waterfowl, they sleep on the water. The drake has an expansible esophagus and an air sac in the neck that he inflates (and, in some species, beats upon with his bill) during his noisy, elaborate courtship display. Stifftails usually build substantial nests of reeds in marshes. The eggs, averaging four or five to a clutch, are rough-surfaced and relatively the largest laid by waterfowl. The drake helps rear the young—a rare trait among ducks.

Most stifftail species live in warm regions of the Southern Hemisphere, and most are freshwater birds. The only European form is the white-headed duck (O. leucocephala), of the Mediterranean region to Turkistan; the drake is brown with an entirely white face, and his blue bill is humped at the base. Drakes of the maccoa duck (O. maccoa), of eastern Africa, and the Australian blue-billed duck (O. australis) have reddish bodies and black heads. In the masked duck (O. dominica), of the West Indies and tropical America, the drake is white-bellied and entirely reddish above, with a black face. Other stifftails are the musk duck (Biziura lobata), of southern Australia and Tasmania, and the parasitic black-headed duck (Heteronetta atricapilla), of southern South America.