Feeding Habits:

Dabbles like a duck, with head below water surface, or dives expertly in water 10 - 25 feet deep for leaves, fronds, seeds, and roots of aquatic plants; sometimes eats wild celery uprooted by canvasbacks and other ducks; eats small fishes, tadpoles, snails, worms, water bugs and other aquatic insects; sometimes eats eggs of other marsh birds.

Nests:

Built by both sexes, about 14" across, of stems of marsh plants, floats on water attached firmly to reeds or other standing plants.

Eggs:

Most often 8 - 12, pink to dark buff, evenly spotted or dotted with browns.

Incubation:

By both sexes, 23 - 24 days; downy chicks black with red or orange about head, neck, and shoulders; red bill with black tip; soon after hatching and drying, chicks swim well and follow parents to be fed.