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Red-crested Pochard
Netta rufina
Identify the Red-crested Pochard by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.
The Red-crested Pochard is a large diving duck of vegetated lowland lakes and marshes, breeding in southern and central Europe and east across the steppes to Central Asia and Mongolia. Many birds winter further south, in North Africa and South Asia. Males have a rounded orange head, red bill and black breast, while females are plain brown with a pale face. It often feeds by up-ending like a dabbling duck.
Did you know?
- Although a diving duck, it often up-ends to feed like a dabbling duck.
- Males offer food to females during courtship.
Voice
About the species
Identification
The male is easily recognised by its orange-red, slightly puffy head, red bill, black breast and rear, pale flanks and brown back. The female is pale brown, with a two-toned head: brown above the eye and clearly paler, almost white, below. In flight both sexes show a broad white wing bar.
Family
Anatidae
Size
Large (crow)
Colours
orange, black, white, brown, red
About the habitat
Fresh or brackish lakes, reservoirs and slow rivers with plenty of submerged vegetation and reed fringes; also sheltered lagoons.
Diet
Mainly aquatic plants such as stoneworts and pondweeds, as well as seeds and occasionally small aquatic invertebrates.
Behaviour
Gregarious, forming large flocks in winter, often with Common Pochards. It feeds by diving, dabbling and up-ending more than most diving ducks. Males court females with head-bobbing and food-offering displays. It nests in lakeside vegetation, laying 8–12 pale green eggs.
Sources
Photo: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Netta rufina (Red-crested Pochard) Male, London Wetland Centre - Diliff.jpg
Sound: Pascal Christe, XC780823, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/780823
Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-crested_pochard
 Male, London Wetland Centre - Diliff.jpg){kind=link}