Common Pochard
Aythya ferina
Mid-sized diving duck. Male distinctive, with dark rusty head, pale gray body contrasting with black breast, and broad pale bluish band on bill. Female rather nondescript: gray-brown overall with diffuse pale head markings. Note sloping forehead and dark gray bill with pale band near tip. In flight grayish overall (lacks bold white wing stripe). Inhabits marshy and reed-fringed lakes to open reservoirs; locally on the sea in winter, especially when lakes freeze. Locally in flocks, and often associates with winter flocks of Tufted Ducks. Feeds mainly by diving.
Identification
The common pochard is a plump, medium-sized diving duck, measuring 42–49 cm (17–19 in) in length, with a wingspan of 72–82 cm (28–32 in). It is stocky and short-tailed, with a sloping forehead and relatively long bill. Its weight (which has been reported only for winter birds) ranges from 467 to 1,240 g (16.5 to 43.7 oz). Males average larger and heavier than females. Like most ducks, it is sexually dimorphic.<p>The male has a chestnut-coloured head and neck, a black breast and tail, and a pale grey body, marked with fine vermiculations. His bill is dark grey, with a wide blue-grey band across the middle. His iris is yellow-orange to red, growing brighter in the breeding season.<p>The legs and feet are grey in both sexes and all ages. The female's iris is brown, sometimes tending towards yellowish-brown. The juvenile's iris is yellow-olive, but attains its adult colour during the first winter.<p>The male is generally silent, though he may whistle softly as part of his courtship display. The female growls softly—a sound transcribed as krrr—if she is flushed. The duckling has a short contact call of two to four notes. If distressed, its calls are higher and faster than are those of Anas ducklings of the same size and age.<p>The male common pochard is quite similar to the male canvasback, but the latter has an all-dark bill. It is also similar to the redhead, but the latter has a yellow iris and a greyer back.
Taxonomy
Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus first assigned a scientific name to the common pochard in the tenth edition of his landmark treatise Systema Naturae; this was the first edition which included such names. He called the duck Anas ferina. In 1822, German zoologist Friedrich Boie created the genus Aythya for various diving ducks, and moved the common pochard to that new genus. Uptake of Aythya as the genus for the common pochard was mixed for much of the next century, with some authors leaving the duck in the genus Anas or assigning it to various other now-defunct genera instead. The common pochard is considered a superspecies with the canvasback. In the past, the redhead of North America was thought to be a subspecies, but the common pochard is now agreed to be monotypic, with no subspecies. It is known to have hybridised with tufted duck and ferruginous duck in captivity, and these known combinations resemble suspected hybrids seen in the wild, which may share the same parentage. Hybridisations with the red-crested pochard have also been reported.<p>The genus name Aythya is derived from the Ancient Greek word aithuia, an unidentified seabird mentioned by authors including Hesychius and Aristotle. In modern Greek, the word is associated with both a duck and an auklet. The species name is the Latin word ferina, meaning "wild game" (derived from ferus, meaning "wild"). The common name "pochard" was first applied to the duck in the mid-1500s; its origin and etymology is unknown. It is also sometimes known as European pochard, Eurasian pochard, or (particularly in the UK) simply pochard.
- Scientific name
- Aythya ferina
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Anseriformes
- Family
- Anatidae
- Genus
- Aythya
Range and habitat
Their breeding habitat consists of marshes and lakes with a metre or more water depth. Pochards breed in much of temperate and northern Europe and across the Palearctic. They are migratory, and spend winter in the south and west of Europe.<p>In the British Isles, birds breed in eastern England and lowland Scotland, in small numbers in Northern Ireland with numbers increasing gradually, and sporadically in the Republic of Ireland, where it may also be increasing. While uncommon, individuals are also occasionally seen in the south of England, and small populations are sometimes observed on the River Thames. Large numbers stay overwinter in Great Britain, after the birds retreat from Russia and Scandinavia.
- Breeding range
- PAL : w Europe to c Asia and n China
- Non-breeding range
- AF and n OR
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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