Common Shelduck

Description:

Common shelldusk is a striking bird, with a reddish-pink bill, pink feet, a white body with chestnut patches and a black belly, and a dark green head and neck. The wing coverts are white, the primary remiges black, and the secondaries green (only showing in flight) and chestnut. The underwings are almost entirely white. Sexes are similar, but the female is smaller, with some white facial markings, while the male is particularly crisply colored in the breeding season, his bill bright red and bearing a prominent knob at the forehead. The call is a loud honk.

Habitat:

This duck was photographed in the wetlands of Tablas de Daimiel National Park, Ciudad Real, were the Gigüela river joins the Guadiana river. This wetland is located in the middle of arid Spain and it is continuously menaced by abusive irrigation in the surrounding agricultural areas exhausting the aquifer which proportionates most of the water for the wetlands. The tablas de Daimiel is the core of the Biosphere reserve Mancha Húmeda. The European Union has designated it a Special Protection Area for birds (Zona de Especial Protección para las Aves in Spanish).

Notes:

spanish name: Tarro blanco