Bufflehead
Cambridge, Maryland.
The biggest thing about this little duck is its shiny noggin! Buffleheads share the genus name, bucephala, with their cousins the Goldeneyes: it translates roughly as “ox head.” Classicists may think of Alexander the Great’s celebrated horse, Bucephalus, who may have been either large at the top end, stubborn and strong in will, or both; our duck clearly is the last; his species is clever, active, observant … and wary. I suspect that this handsome male swam toward me only because there were various ducks dabbling unconcernedly in my vicinity.