Falcated Duck

Description:

The breeding male is unmistakable. Most of the body plumage is finely vermiculated grey, with the long sickle-shaped tertials, which give this species its name, hanging off its back. The large head is dark green with a white throat, and a dark green collar and bronzed crown). The vent region is patterned in yellow, black and white.

Habitat:

The Falcated duck breeds in eastern Asia. It nests in eastern Russia, in Khabarovsk, Primorskiy, Amur, Chita, Buryatia, Irkutsk, Tuva, eastern Krasnoyarsk, south central Sakha Sakhalin, extreme northeastern North Korea and northern China, in northeastern Inner Mongolia, and northern Heilongjiang, and in northern Japan, Hokkaidō, Aomori, and the Kuril Islands.[3] It is widely recorded well outside its normal range, but the popularity of this beautiful duck in captivity clouds the origins of these extralimital birds. This dabbling duck is strongly migratory and winters in much of Southeast Asia. In India: Uttar Pradesh, Bihār, Assam, eastern Haryāna. Also in northern Bangladesh, northern and central Myanmar, northern Laos to the Mekong River, northern Vietnam (from about Hanoi north), and China: Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Guangxi Zhuang, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, northern Hunan, Hubei, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong, southern Hebei, Shanxi, northern Shaanxi.[3] It is gregarious outside the breeding season and will then form large flocks. This is a species of lowland wetlands, such as water meadows or lakes, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing. It nests on the ground, near water and under the cover of taller vegetation.

Notes:

This beautiful male Falcated Duck has returned for the second winter at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge in the California Central Valley.