Ferruginous Duck

The ferruginous duck, also called the ferruginous pochard or white-eyed pochard, is a medium-sized diving duck of the Palearctic. The breeding male is rich dark chestnut on the head, breast and flanks with contrasting pure white undertail coverts, and in flight shows a white belly and underwing patch. Females are duller and browner, and the male has a yellow eye while the female's is dark (Wikipedia, general species account).

Its breeding range runs from Iberia and the Maghreb east to western Mongolia and south to Arabia, though in the west it is now scarce and localised. It winters around the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Eggs are laid from the end of April or early May in a nest on the ground close to water or sometimes floating among emergent vegetation, and are incubated for 25–27 days, with fledging at 55–60 days. SoIB 2023 treats it as a winter migrant of wetlands, rates it a Moderate conservation priority, and gives a Large range and an inconclusive long-term trend of about −40% (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).