Tag Archives: ducks

Scoter ducks still near Texel, cold spring

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This video from the Netherlands is about a group of common scoters, diving together for food.

The Waddenvereniging in the Netherlands reports that recently, about 50,000 scoter ducks were counted in the North Sea, west of the Hoornderslag on Texel island. Two weeks before, there had been only 12,000 ducks.

It is very unusual that these ducks have not migrated yet to their nesting sites in northern Europe and Siberia. This is because of the cold spring.

The ducks are both common scoters and velvet scoters.

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Waterbird migration and climate change

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This video from Canada says about itself:

Common Goldeneye – Bucephala clangula

These Common Goldeneye ducks are wintering in Lake Ontario. Around late March to early April they will begin returning to their northern breeding grounds across Canada and Alaska. Common Goldeneyes can also be found in northern Europe and Asia.

From Wildlife Extra:

Climate changes shift wintering ranges of waterbirds

Waterbirds moving north – More in Finland and Sweden

May 2013. Migratory waterbirds have shifted their wintering areas north-eastwards due to climate change in Europe, according to a group of scientists including Richard Hearn of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT). Their new study found a strong link between changes in the numbers of goldeneyes, tufted ducks and goosanders wintering across northern Europe and changes in temperature in early winter.

Large rise in Finland and Sweden

In Finland and Sweden, the mid-winter numbers of these three species are more than 130,000 individuals higher than three decades ago. Correspondingly, on the southern edge of the distribution in France, Ireland and Switzerland, numbers have dropped by nearly 120,000 individuals. In several southern countries wintering numbers have halved.

Richard Hearn, WWT’s Head of Species Monitoring and a contributor to the study, said: “Our world is changing rapidly and conservation tools need to be flexible so they can respond to that challenge. This means more monitoring, to keep track of bird populations that are, in some cases, changing exponentially. It also means maintaining a coherent network of protected areas throughout Europe, and altering their management in response to the changing mix of wildlife that uses them.”

“Studies like this are critical to making governments aware of their shifting responsibilities and helping them plan for the future.”

Tufted ducks and goldeneyes in Finland

Aleksi Lehikoinen, Curator at the Finnish Museum of Natural History and lead author of the study, said: “In Finland, the change has been strongest in tufted ducks and goldeneyes, whose numbers have increased ten-fold. Waterbird numbers are connected with the early winter temperature, which in south Finland increased by about 3.8 degrees between 1980 and 2010.”

Hunting

This may have implications for their conservation, because birds are making less use of the protected areas that were designated to protect them. The shifts in the birds’ ranges may also affect the impact of hunting, as possibilities increase in the north and decrease them in the south, altering potential bag sizes.

The research is based on counts from the International Waterbird Census and the results have been published in Global Change Biology.

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British garganey duck news

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From the BTO Bird Ringing ‘Demog Blog’ in Britain:

10 May 2013

Colourful Garganey

The Garganey is unique among British ducks, being a summer visitor to these islands from its wintering grounds in central Africa. It is estimated that we only have around 86 pairs in Britain so obviously the ringing totals for this species are very low. Last year, only three Garganey were ringed and the previous ones to that were in 2007. Hearing about a Garganey after it’s been ringed is probably not going to be a happy story for the Garganey.

A quick look at what we know about what happens to these birds on the ringing database show:

  • one bird controlled by a ringer 106km from the ringing site
  • five re-caught by a ringer at the place of ringing between 1962-74
  • two birds caught by an owl or raptor
  • three found dead with no obvious cause of death
  • seventy one shot or ‘hunted’
  • eight completely unknown i.e. alive or dead?

The current longevity record is 14 years 6 months and this bird’s life was cut short in Mali (shot).

Drake Garganey - by Russel Slack
Drake Garganey – by Russel Slack

However, this is a happy story. Garganey EX75514 was ringed last year and migrated south to southern Europe or Africa and has just returned to where it was ringed at Wheldrake Ings, North Yorkshire.

To find out more information about these birds, colour ringing is being used to increase the amount of ‘alive’ reports and look into their survival and site fidelity. Hopefully this bird will be sighted for many years to come.

Thanks to Craig Ralston for letting us know and for more information about this bird, click here for the Lower Derwent Valley NNR blog.

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Ruff, redshank and wigeon

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Sunday 7 April, to Het landje van Geijsel.

The Landje van Geijsel is a bit of farmland, to the south of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It is a bit of wetland at this time of the year.

Every year in February, farmer Geijsel lets the water in for waders and other birds to benefit from. He has built a hide for birdwatching.

As we arrive, a chaffinch sings.

Wigeons, lapwings, a black-tailed godwit, Landje van Geijsel, 7 April 2013

Hundreds of wigeons. Yesterday, a thousand wigeons were counted here. Today, still many, but less than a thousand. Maybe that is because today is basically the first day this April when the weather is starting to look like spring. The cold north-east wind of previous days has stopped. It is sunny. That may have led some wigeons and other birds to stop waiting, and to continue their spring migration.

Female and male wigeon flying, Landje van Geijsel, 7 April 2013

Quite some black-tailed godwits. Northern lapwings on muddy islets. Jackdaws near the hide.

One redshank, Landje van Geijsel, 7 April 2013

Redshanks. Some show courting behaviour; though we did not see a mating.

Two redshanks, Landje van Geijsel, 7 April 2013

Two redshanks on mud, Landje van Geijsel, 7 April 2013

Two redshanks, one spreading its tail feathers, Landje van Geijsel, 7 April 2013

Two redshanks, one flying, Landje van Geijsel, 7 April 2013

Black-headed gulls, common gulls and a lesser black-backed gull.

A ruff passes sleepy wigeons, Landje van Geijsel, 7 April 2013

A few ruffs. Unfortunately not in their beautiful summer plumage yet, though some show signs of that approaching.

A ruff passes more sleepy wigeons, Landje van Geijsel, 7 April 2013

A ruff and a male wigeon, Landje van Geijsel, 7 April 2013

Shoveler ducks; and scores of teal.

Black-tailed godwit and male teal, Landje van Geijsel, 7 April 2013

Three Egyptian geese flying.

A curlew flying.

A male pintail duck, resting on a bank.

An oystercatcher.

A great cormorant flying.

Little ringed plover, Landje van Geijsel, 7 April 2013

A little ringed plover. It is trampling the mud to catch worms. Like its much bigger distant relatives, herring gulls, sometimes do.

Two snipe close to the hide. They fly away.

Two grey lag geese flying.

A barnacle goose flying.

A common sandpiper on a muddy islet.

Unlike two years ago, no sign of ring-necked parakeets nesting in the tree near the hide.

Mandarin duck eats frog, video

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This is a video about a female mandarin duck in a pond near Putten in the Netherlands. after the meal, she swims with her partner.

The maker of the video is Annie Goodschalk-Visch.

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Good Madagascar endangered duck news

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This video says about itself:

March 10, 2011

In October and November 2009 the last 19 Madagascar Pochard survived on a cluster of ponds in the north of Madagascar. The population was more than doubled when eggs were collected from the nests of three females and 24 ducklings hatched in incubators to begin a conservation breeding programme… watch this to see how the the programme began.

From Wildlife Extra:

Critically Endangered Madagascar pochard population has quadrupled

Population has reached 80 birds

March 2013. The world’s population of the Madagascar pochard has almost quadrupled thanks to the conservation efforts of Durrell and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT). This phenomenal success story will help to secure the population of this Critically Endangered duck.

20 pochards reared this season

Twenty Madagascar pochards have successfully been hatched and reared this breeding season, bringing the world population of this species to around 80 birds.

To date, 38 ducklings have successfully been reared in the specially developed breeding centre at Antsohihy, Madagascar, since the captive breeding programme commenced in 2009.

Building and running a breeding centre for this species in a rural town in Madagascar is a real challenge for the field teams. Clean water and electricity supplies in the area are unpredictable but thanks to contingency measures such as water storage tanks and generators; coupled with the hard work and commitment of the team, many of the everyday practical issues surrounding the project have been overcome.

Importantly during this, the second breeding season, the number of enclosures at the centre was increased meaning that staff could pair up specific single males and females, thus providing vital information on genetic management for the species.

Commenting on the breeding success Glyn Young, Conservation Biologist at Durrell, said “This latest batch of healthy ducklings provides us with another step forward in saving the pochard from extinction. Genetic management allows us to make the best use of a limited number of wild birds and to ensure the maximum health of the vital conservation population necessary for the survival of this duck.”

Rediscovered in 2006

The Madagascar pochard was thought to have become extinct in the late 1990s, but was rediscovered in 2006, when conservationists on an expedition spotted just 22 birds at a single site – Lake Matsaborimena, in northern Madagascar.

Peter Cranswick, Head of Species Recovery at WWT said, “The 58 Madagascar pochards in the captive breeding centre provide a safety net for the population if the tiny wild population were to go extinct. We are now conducting detailed research in Madagascar to determine the species’ critical needs and to identify possible sites for future reintroductions”

Developments and enhancements are now underway at the Antsohihy centre in preparation for the next breeding season for the captive ducks.

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Dutch dunes ducks, video

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This video, by Alex Molin, was made in the Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen nature reserve in the Netherlands.

It shows coots and various duck species, like tufted duck, common pochard, red-crested pochard. And goosanders; one of them catching a frog.

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Rare bufflehead duck in the Netherlands, video

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This video is called Bufflehead – Bucephala albeola -Buffelkopeend – Barendrecht – The Netherlands.

Published on March 10, 2013, by Luuk Punt. The male bufflehead duck swims amidst tufted ducks.

Bufflehead ducks are very rare in Europe. They are North American birds, only driven to the east coasts of the Atlantic if there is a strong west wind.

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Australian musk ducklings hatching, video

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Australian Geographic writes about this video:

Ducklings hatch out of eggs

IT WAS THE CHANCE DISCOVERY of a hatching egg by wildlife filmmaker Simon Cherriman that led to this spectacular footage of a musk duck chick’s first breaths.

Simon was thrilled when he returned to a nest he had found in a small wetland in the Perth Hills, WA, and found the eggs about to hatch.

“I had returned only with the intention of getting some better still photos of the nest as it was such a rare opportunity,” says Simon, who shot the footage with Canon 600D and GoPro miniature HD cameras.

Musk duck: largest duck in Australia

The native musk duck (Biziura lobata), found from north-west WA across to the south and east coasts, is Australia’s largest species of duck. The male of the species can grow up to 70cm long. The musk duck is named for the odour it releases from a gland on its rump.

The nest location in the film is typical of the species – hidden within a thick reed bed in a freshwater lagoon. Female ducks lay one clutch of eggs per year in cup-like nests that are lined with feathers and grass.

Musk ducks aren’t often seen on land, as the positioning of their legs make them ungainly walkers. They are, however, expert divers and swimmers, allowing them to easily escape predators and find food.

- Jude Dineley

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Rare white-headed ducks in Ukraine

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This is a white-headed duck video from Spain.

From BirdLife:

Endangered species back, but for how long…?

Mon, Feb 18, 2013

Europe, News

Endangered species back, but for how long…?

USPB (BirdLife in the Ukraine)

A colony of White-headed ducks, a globally threatened species and extremely rare in the Ukraine, was seen at the Lake Yarylhach together with other rare birds. Despite the obvious importance of the Yarylhach wetland in terms of biodiversity richness, the conservation status of this area is at high risk. 

At the occasion of the International geese count that took place during the first weekend of February in the Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania, 30 White-headed ducks were registered by the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Birds (USPB; BirdLife in the Ukraine).

The White-headed duck is a globally threatened species originated in the Palearctic. In the second half of the 20th century the population has decreased in the Ukraine and has just recently started to recover. One reason, confirmed by a survey run by USPB in February, is that the Ukrainian wetlands are rich habitats for waterfowls and water birds, providing them with resources they need to survive and reproduce.

Indeed, the survey showed that the Ukrainian wetlands are key wintering areas to tens of thousands of geese, different species of ducks, swans, herons, sandpipers and gulls. Rare species, such as the White-headed ducks also gather in these wetlands.

“Registration of White-headed ducks is an extremely important event for the Ukraine, as it is an indication that our wetlands meet international standards,” says Oleg Dudkin, Director of the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Birds.

However, USPB recorded a series of alarming threats to birds and the wetlands they inhabit; Ukrainian wetlands and especially the lake Yarylhach coast where the White-headed ducks nest, are suffering from pollution and destruction due to salt mining, which is also a violation of Ukrainian and International laws.

It is important that Ukrainian wetlands are protected by an effective legislation and preserved from damages linked to human activities.

For more information please contact Olga Yaremchenko, Conservation Projects Director at the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Birds (BirdLife in the Ukraine).

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