Tufted Duck

The tufted duck is a small diving duck with a population of nearly a million birds, found in northern Eurasia and partially migratory. The adult male is all black except for white flanks, a blue-grey bill, golden-yellow eyes and a thin crest on the back of the head, while the adult female is brown with lighter flanks and is more easily confused with other diving ducks. Only the greater and lesser scaup look similar, but they lack the tuft and call differently (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds throughout temperate and northern Eurasia, and the female's call is a harsh, growling karr, usually given in flight. The clutch is eight to eleven greenish-grey eggs, incubated by the female from the time the clutch is complete, so that they hatch together after about 25 days; she covers the eggs with down when she leaves the nest. SoIB 2023 rates it a High conservation priority: a winter migrant of wetlands with a Large range, a rapid long-term decline of about 78% and a current decline of nearly 5% a year (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).