From Opus

Male
Photo by pale42
Malaga, Spain May 2009

Oxyura leucocephala

[edit] Identification

43-48cm

• Chestnut brown body
• Blue bill
• White head
• Black cap and neck
  

Female

• Grey-brown body
• White face
• Dark bill, cap and a cheek stripe

[edit] Variation

Some birds show white undertail coverts

[edit] Distribution

Female
Photo by daniscoping
Laguna de Tarelo, Cadiz, southern Spain, March 2004

Patchily distributed Mediterranean basin Spain and North Africa to central Asia.

The integrity of the Spanish population threatened by hybridization with the imported Ruddy Duck

[edit] Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

[edit] Habitat

Large tracts of open water with dense stands of aquatic plants.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes aquatic invertebrates and vegetation.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Birdforum thread discussing id of this species

• List of references

[edit] External Links