Common Pochard
Common Pochard drake — Pinola Conservancy Common Pochard female — Pinola Conservancy Unaggressive and easy to keep in a mixed-species flock in captivity, their main requirement is for clean and reasonably deep water. Common Pochard at WWT Welney — John Atkins Aythya ferina With its distinctive bright chestnut head, contrasting with grey back and body […]
Ferruginous Duck
Ferruginous Duck, male — Pinola Conservancy Ferruginous Duck and ducklings — Pinola Conservancy Ferruginous Duck pair — Jan Harteman Aythya nyroca The dainty Ferruginous Duck is essentially a dark burnished brown or reddish-brown diving duck with white undertail coverts. The duck is slightly duller and lacks the drake’s pale eye. Wild populations do fluctuate with […]
Baer’s Pochard
Baer’s Pochard — Ian Gereg The start of a Baer’s nest, using grass and straw pulled in — Ian Gereg Baer’s Pochard female — Phoebe Vaughan Aythya baeri Critically endangered, and one of the rarest ducks in the world, Baer’s Pochard is something of a mystery. Though once widely distributed in its native China, with […]
Ashy-headed Goose
Ashy-headed geese — Pinola Conservancy Ashy-headed Goose defending — Phoebe Vaughan Wild Ashy-headed Goose and juvenile — Alan Henry Chloephaga poliocephala The attractive Ashy-headed Goose, a small sheldgoose, is confined to Chile and southern Argentina. It is a partial migrant, with birds moving north during the austral winter. It is a rare visitor to the […]
Eurasian Teal
Eurasian Teal drake — David Tomlinson Eurasian Teal drakes — John Harding Eurasian Teal drake — Zoe Brodie James Shy, and sometimes reluctant to breed in captivity, Eurasian Teal are charming, if nervous, little ducks. Their soft ‘krick’ call is instantly recognisable and carries for a surprising distance. Anas crecca The Eurasian Teal is the […]
Green-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal drake — Ian Gereg Green-winged Teal female — Pinola Conservancy Anas carolinensis As many waterfowl disperse over great distances, it is not surprising that we sometimes see vagrants; so the Green-winged Teal does turn up occasionally in the United Kingdom. The vertical white line on the flanks of the drake makes it […]
Flying Steamerduck
Flying Steamerduck — Katie Gipple Lubbock, Sylvan Heights Bird Park https://youtu.be/TVGbWbCCMhU Flying Steamerducks have only been in aviculture for a few decades. Wild collected eggs formed the nucleus in Chile in the late 1980s. From there, pairs were distributed to other South American collections, and in 1995, four breeding pairs were sent to the Netherlands. […]
Crested Shelduck
Male Crested Shelduck — Mark Hulme Tadorna cristata The shelducks are one of the most successful of all the family Anatidae. Five of the six members of the Tadorna shelduck group have a conservation status of least concern. The one exception is the Crested Shelduck, which is listed as critical. The last possible sighting was […]
Raja Shelduck
Raja Shelduck — BWA There are two races of Raja Shelduck recognised: Black-backed Radjah radjah radjah of New Guinea Red-backed R. r. rufitergum of northern Australia Raja Shelduck — Morag Jones Radjah radjah The smallest of the shelducks, the Raja Shelduck is the only one to be found almost exclusively in the Tropics. In northern […]
Brown Teal
Brown Teal — Gary Kramer gkramer@cwo.com Brown Teal historically exploited a wide range of habitats. Now they are mostly associated with agricultural areas and the margins of small streams that retain overhanging marginal vegetation. Some birds still feed in estuaries on Great Barrier Island. Their diet is freshwater and marine invertebrates and terrestrial and freshwater […]
