The ferruginous duck (Aythya nyroca), also known as the ferruginous pochard, common white-eye or white-eyed pochard, is a medium-sized diving duck native to the Palearctic. The scientific name is derived from the Ancient Greek word, (), an unknown seabird mentioned by authors including Hesychius and Aristotle, and the Russian word, (), the Russian word for pochard, which occurs in the bird's Russian common name.
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.
Habitat
The ferruginous duck prefers quite shallow fresh waterbodies with rich submerged and floating vegetation with dense stands of emergent vegetation on the margins. In some areas it will use saline or brackish pools or wetlands. On passage and wintering will also frequent coastal waters, inland seas and large, open lagoons.
Distribution
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.
Habits
These are gregarious birds, but less social than other Aythya species but where common it can form large flocks in winter, often mixed with other diving ducks, such as tufted ducks and common pochards. Form pairs from January onwards and during courtship the male often curls his tail so that it dips into the water forming a triangular white patch of the undertail coverts. In areas where it is common it will form colonies at protected sites such as islands, often in association with gulls. Where scarce it nests singly, in dispersed and concealed sites.
Gallery
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File:Ferruginous Duck RWD.jpg|Male
File:Aythya nyroca16.jpg|Ferruginous ducks
File:Ferruginous Duck from the Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland.jpg|ID composite
File:Aythya nyroca MWNH 2004.JPG|Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden
File:Nederlandsche vogelen (KB) - Aythya nyroca (322b).jpg|Aythya nyroca (male), referred to as Anas pullata, in Nederlandsche Vogelen, c. 1800
File:Stamp of Belarus - 1996 - Colnect 278465 - Ferruginous Duck Aythya nyroca.jpeg|Ferruginous duck stamp from Belarus
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