Ferruginous Duck
A species of Diving ducks Scientific name : Aythya nyroca Genus : Diving ducks
Ferruginous Duck, A species of Diving ducks
Botanical name: Aythya nyroca
Genus: Diving ducks
Content
Description General Info
Photo By Alessandro Musicorio , used under CC-BY-SA-2.0 /Cropped and compressed from original
Description
The breeding male is a rich, dark chestnut on the head, breast and flanks with contrasting pure white undertail coverts. In flight the white belly and underwing patch are visible. The females are duller and browner than the males. The male has a yellow eye and the females have a dark eye.
Size
42 cm
Colors
Brown
Black
Red
Gray
White
Life Expectancy
8 years
Feeding Habits
Ferruginous Duck primarily consume aquatic vegetation, molluscs, insects, and fish, foraging via diving or dabbling, often nocturnally. They exhibit a preference for either upending or a characteristic diving technique to obtain food.
Habitat
The ferruginous Duck is typically found in shallow freshwater bodies like marshes and pools with abundant emergent, floating, and shore-bound vegetation, such as reeds, willows, and alders. This species is also drawn to well-vegetated saline, brackish, or alkaline lakes, particularly during the breeding season. Beyond the breeding grounds, the ferruginous Duck may inhabit larger lakes, including inland seas, reservoirs, coastal marshes, and lagoons. It primarily settles in lowlands but can also be found breeding at altitudes up to 4200 meters. Outside the breeding period, it's known to range through diverse elevations during migration and in winter.
Dite type
Aquatic invertebrate eater
General Info
Distribution Area
The breeding range of the ferruginous duck is from Iberia and the Maghreb east to western Mongolia, south to Arabia, although in the west is now scarce and localised and locally extirpated in some countries. The duck winters throughout the Mediterranean Basin and the Black Sea, smaller number migrate into sub-Saharan Africa via the Nile Valley. Eastern birds winter in south and south-east Asia.
Species Status
The species is threatened by the degradation and destruction of its favoured habitats by anthropogenic causes which are very wide and varied including impoundment, drainage, pollution and mismanagement. The introduction of non-native species has also caused habitat degradation, e.g. the stocking of lakes with and accidental introduction of grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella has caused reductions in plant and animal biomass available for the ducks to feed on. In addition, the increased threat of drought due to climate change may pose a threat to the species in the drier parts of its range. Increased disturbance by fishing boats and anglers among marginal vegetation could cause abandonment of the breeding sites or disrupt the timing of breeding particularly in populated areas, e.g. western Europe. Ferruginous ducks are also threatened by hunting and large numbers are shot on passage in the autumn and in the wintering areas. Although protected in most European countries illegal and accidental hunting persists. It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. Among recent local initiatives it should be mentioned inclusion of the breeding habitats of the species in Armenia into network of Emerald Sites protected by the Bern Convention.
Photo By Alessandro Musicorio , used under CC-BY-SA-2.0 /Cropped and compressed from original
Scientific Classification
Phylum
Chordates Class
Birds Order
Waterfowl Family
Geese Genus
Diving ducks Species
Ferruginous Duck