Marbled Duck

The marbled duck, or marbled teal, is a medium-sized duck, 39–42 cm long. Adults are pale sandy brown, diffusely blotched off-white, with a dark eye patch and a shaggy head, and juveniles are similar with more off-white blotches. The scientific name means marbled duck with a narrow bill, from Greek and Latin roots (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives in southern Europe, northern Africa and western and central Asia; further east it survives in the Mesopotamian marshes of southern Iraq and in Iran, and in isolated pockets in Armenia, Azerbaijan, southern European Russia, western India and western China. Its preferred breeding habitat is temporary, shallow fresh, brackish or alkaline waters with densely vegetated shores in fairly dry regions, and it may also breed in coastal lagoons, along slow rivers and on reservoirs. About 12 eggs are laid in a nest covered by dense vegetation at the water's edge. SoIB 2023 rates it a High conservation priority, a winter migrant of wetlands with a Very Restricted range (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).