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Common Shelduck

Common Shelduck

Tadorna tadorna

Identify the Common Shelduck by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Common Shelduck is a large, goose-like duck, boldly patterned in white, black and chestnut with a dark green head and a red bill. It breeds mainly on temperate coasts, estuaries and saline lakes across Europe and Asia and is spreading to fresh water inland. After breeding, huge numbers gather at traditional moulting sites, such as the Wadden Sea.

Did you know?

  • After breeding up to 100,000 shelducks gather to moult in the Wadden Sea.
  • It often nests in old rabbit burrows.

Voice

Song
Call

About the species

Identification

A large, mainly white duck with a dark, green-glossed head, a broad chestnut breast band and black shoulders; the wings show white coverts and black primaries, and a black stripe runs along the belly. The bill is red, and males are larger with a clear red knob in the breeding season. Young birds are grey-brown above without the breast band.

Family

Anatidae

Size

Large (crow)

Colours

white, black, red, brown, green

About the habitat

Estuaries, tidal mudflats, salt marshes, sandy shores and brackish lagoons; increasingly also shallow inland lakes and rivers.

Diet

Mainly small invertebrates – mud snails, bivalves, crustaceans, worms and insect larvae – sieved from mud and shallow water; occasionally algae and plants.

Behaviour

Forages by dabbling and sieving on exposed mud and in very shallow water, often following the tide. Pairs are long-term and nest in burrows, often old rabbit holes, or other cavities. Ducklings are led to feeding areas and gathered into large crèches guarded by a few adults. After breeding most adults migrate to moulting sites where they become flightless. It gives loud honking and whistling calls.

Sources

Photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) (26499348215).jpg

Sound: Pascal Christe, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tadorna_tadorna_-_Common_Shelduck_XC466466.mp3

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC705889, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/705889

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_shelduck

See also