Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) lives in freshwater wetlands across Europe, Asia, North Africa. It feeds on insects and plants. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
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Male tufted ducks tip the scales at up to 1,026 g and stretch 48 cm long, while females stay lighter at around 907 g and 44 cm. Both sexes span a 70 cm wingspan, but the male's glossy black plumage and bright yellow eyes make him look like a tiny, feather-capped torpedo.
A tufted duck clutch holds 8-11 eggs, each about 59 mm × 41 mm, and the female incubates them for roughly 25 days before the downy chicks hatch. Ducklings leave the nest after just 45-50 days, feed themselves, and most birds breed for the first time at one year old.
Tufted ducks have spread beyond their historic Palearctic home thanks to man-made lakes and gravel pits that create new open-water foraging grounds. The species now breeds across temperate and northern Eurasia and even shows up as a winter visitor on North America's coasts. Their ability to exploit fresh water created by humans explains why their range has broadened over the past century.
At Bangladesh's Tanguar Haor wetland, tufted duck counts have fallen "severely" between 2008 and 2021, mirroring a broader trend where 59 % of surveyed migratory waterbirds are declining. The site's water levels swing from 6-10 m in the monsoon to just 2-6 m in the dry season, and two-fifths of the original basin has been turned into farmland, squeezing the ducks' habitat.
Nearly one million tufted ducks circle the northern Eurasian wetlands, a population size that helps keep the species classified as Least Concern.
Sources
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As the sun rises over the tranquil wetlands, the tufted duck glides effortlessly across the water, its sleek, black plumage glistening like polished onyx, while the distinctive tuft of feathers on its head bobs gently with each stroke of its paddle-like feet. With a subtle flash of purple and green on its wings, this diminutive diver navigates the aquatic world with an air of quiet confidence, its soft, whistling calls carrying on the morning breeze. In its element, the tufted duck is a master of understated elegance, moving through the world with a serene and unhurried grace.
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