Buffleheads are small diving ducks that are common along the shore in Victoria. They tend to dive a lot, making them hard to photograph. But breeding season was distracting these ones and they were spending more time on the surface showing off and chasing around. They are in the same genus as the Common Goldeneyes on the river in Saskatoon in the winter.
Usually the male's heads just look black, but when the light is right they are an iridescent green and purple.
The females are smaller and plainer.
This next one was at the end of a brief bout of mating, the male holding on to the feathers on the females head. The female was completely under water for most of it.
This isn't a great shot of the bufflehead, but nice reflections :-) Their black and white coloring is actually quite good camouflage here.
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