From Opus

Photo by redwing
male

Aythya ferina

[edit] Identification

Mid-sized diving duck. 48cm.

[edit] Adult Male

• Chestnut red head
• Black bill with light stripe
• Light grey body
• Black chest, vent, tail and rump

[edit] Female

• Dull brown/grey
• Richer brown head
  • Pale markings at base of bill and around eye

[edit] Distribution

Breeds in western Europe from the British Isles and France east to Central Europe and more continuously from the shores of the Baltic and eastern Europe east across Asia south of the tundra to Mongolia and western China. Small numbers breed outside main range in Iceland, Spain, Italy and Greece, in Turkey and in Hokkaido, Japan.

A summer visitor to northernmost parts of range. Winters throughout the British Isles and western Europe, around the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas, in India, southern China and Japan. Small numbers winter in sub-Saharan Africa. Vagrants recorded the Faroes, Azores, Madeira; Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands, Gambia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Philippines, Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands.

Photo by postcardcv
female

[edit] Taxonomy

Monotypic.

[edit] Habitat

Usually breeds on medium-large, fairly deep freshwaters with some marginal vegetation. On passage and in winter often on larger, more open waters, particularly reservoirs and gravel-pits, also estuaries and sometimes on sheltered seas.

[edit] Behaviour

The diet includes aquatic plants, molluscs, aquatic insects and small fish, often feeding at night.

[edit] Vocalisation

[edit] External Links