In this article you will find the most common 10 duck species for duck hunting collectors.
In the winter time, particularly in January, a large number of ducks can be observed on Romanian waters. Different species of ducks spend the winter on our lakes and rivers. In the next few days I will introduce you to the most 10 common ducks of Romania and explain what you should look out for when identifying them.
1. Mallard
2. Gadwall
3. Pintail
4. Shoveler
5. Common Teal
6. Garganey
7. Eurasian Wigeon
8. Red-crested Pochard
9. Pochard
10. Tufted Duck
1. Mallard
The Mallard is by far the most common duck species in Romania during the breeding season. There are an estimated 70,000 – 80,000 breeding pairs every year. In January up to 300.000 mallards can be found in Romania from an estimated total of 3.000.000 mallard all over Europe
The mallard is a dabbling duck. Dabbling ducks, that means they typically feed by upending and dabbling (contrasted with diving duck). Apart from their plant-based nutrition, the mallard also rarely eats small animals such as snails, insects or worms, as well as small fish.
Mallard male
The male Mallard can be easily recognized in its breeding plumage by its shimmering green head. But watch out! Depending on the light, the head can also shimmer bluish or violet metallic. Further distinguishing features are the yellow beak, the white neck ring, the brown breast and the grey patterned body.
Mallard female
The female Mallard is not as strikingly couler as the male. It has a brown pattern all over its body. This pattern can also be observed in many females of other dabbling ducks.
The beak of the female Mallard Duck is mostly orange, but it also has a certain amount of black. The amount of black varies greatly from specimen to specimen. Basically, you can remember the following:
If the black and orange part of the beak merge irregularly, it is a female Mallard Duck. What I mean by that is that the colours are not separated by an edge, but there are patterns and gradients.
2. Gadwall
The Gadwall is found in Romania specialty in winter. Up to 10,000 pairs migrate to our lakes and rivers to spend the winter. As a breeding bird, the Gadwall is not rare. The nesting population is estimated at around 5000 breeding pairs per year.
The Gadwall also belongs to the dabbling ducks. It feeds almost exclusively on plants.
Gadwall male
The Gadwall male is quite inconspicuously coloured and patterned in grey throughout. The rump (rear end) and the beak are black. On the back the male has long shoulder feathers. These feathers are also called decorative feathers.
Gadwall female
The female is similarly coloured like the Mallard Duck-female. However, unlike the Mallard, the Gadwall has a completely white mirror.
The beak is orange and black like the Mallard-female. However, both colors are clearly separated on the beak of the female Gadwall. Along the beak you can see a sharp edge between the two colors.
3. Pintail
The Pintail is only a winter visitor in Romania. It spends the summer further in the northeast. In winter, there around 3,000 pintails pairs on our lakes. As with all waterfowl, this number can fluctuate considerably from year to year, as the numbers are highly dependent on the weather.
The winter population of the Pintail has increased slightly in Romania in recent years.
Pintail male
In my opinion the Pintail is one of the most beautiful duck species in Europe. The duck got its name because of its elongated tail feathers. The long tail feathers can be seen on both the male and the female. On the male, however, the spit is much more pronounced.
The male has a white breast. This forms into a strip, which reaches up to the back of the head. The head is uniformly brown and shimmers slightly pink under the right light conditions. The body has a fine grey pattern and, on the back, it has extended shoulder feathers. The shoulder feathers of the Pintail are much longer than those of the Gadwall.
Pintail female
The female of the Pintail duck is generally somewhat lighter coloured than the other female dabbling ducks. The flight feathers are very long and stand out. Other distinguishing features are the grey beak and, as mentioned before, the long tail feathers.
4. Shoveler
The Shoveler can be observed in Romania almost only in winter. The winter population of the Shoveler duck is around 2,500 pairs . However, in contrast to the Pintail, the shoveler breeds irregularly in Romania.
The Shoveler Duck has specialised in filtering out plankton. Its large beak resembles the shape of a spoon and helps it to filter large quantities of water efficiently. The bristle-like rows of lamellae on its beak trap tiny creatures and plant particles, which they then eat.
Shoveler male
The male has a white body and orange-brown flanks. The dark head can have a strong greenish shimmer depending on the light.
Unlike the other dabbling duck, the Shoveler Duck male has a very bright, slightly yellow eye. Coloured eyes are usually seen on the males of diving ducks.
Shoveler female
The female of the Shoveler Duck is coloured quite inconspicuously, typical for dabbling ducks. Apart from the green mirror, the Shoveler Duck female can be identified most easily by its large beak.
Like the female Pintail, the female Shoveler Duck also has very long feathers which extend beyond the body.
5. Common Teal
The Common Teal is the smallest duck in Europe. This is particularly noticeable in direct comparison with other species. They are also the fastest flying ducks in Europe
The Teal also belongs to the dabbling duck family and feeds mainly on water plants.
In Romania, the Common Teal can also be observed almost exclusively in the fall and winter. Breeding records in Romania are irregular and rather rare. In winter, around 15,000 Teals pairs migrate to Romania waters.
Male Common Teal
Males can easily be identified by their head pattern. This is mostly reddish brown and it shows a green half-moon shape on the sides. The two colors are separated by light lines.
Further features are the horizontal white and black stripe over the flanks, the extended shoulder feathers and the beige rump.
Female Common Teal
In addition to the significantly smaller size, the female Teal can also be determined by the colour of the mirror. The mirror of the Teal is green. Compared to the rest of the body, the rump is very bright and, depending on the individual, almost white.
Another feature is the dark grey beak, which only takes on a slightly orange colour at the base of the beak and the edges.
6. Garganey
The Garganey is the only dabbling duck which is a long-migrating bird. This means that in late autumn this species flies south, across the Sahara to the tropical rain forest. There the duck spends the winter before returning to Europe very early in spring or end of January
In Romania, this species breeds regularly. The population in Romania is around 5000 pairs
Garganey male
The male is somewhat similar to that of the Pintail. Both have a brown head with a little white at the back of their head. The Garganey, however, has a white stripe over the eye, whist the Pintail has a white stripe from the chest up to the back of the head.
The two can also be distinguished by the colour of the breast: the Garganey has a brown patterned breast. The Pintail on the other hand, has a white, plain breast.
Garganey female
The strong contrasty plumage distinguishes the female Garganey a little from the other dabbling ducks. Otherwise it can only be identified by the head pattern. This consists mainly of a dark overeye strip and a light throat.
7. Eurasian Wigeon
The Eurasian Wigeon breeds in Romania not very often and in low numbers. The prefer, open large lakes or rivers. Most of the Eurasian wigeon will be observed in winter. In winter, the population is around 5,000 to 7000 pairs depending on the migration and the weather.
The wigeon has a very significant call which resembles the whistle of a Marmot. Because of that, in German it’s called ‘Whistle Duck’.
The Eurasian Wigeon also belongs to the group of dabbling duck. Instead of just looking for food itself, the Wigeon has developed another strategy. It tries to steal food from diving water birds, such as the Coot. This behaviour can also be observed in other dabbling duck, but the Wigeon does it most often.
Eurasian Wigeon male
The male Wigeon is characterized by an orange-brown head, a slightly pink breast and a black rump with a white spot in front of it. Like the Teal, the Wigeon also has a horizontal white stripe over its flanks.
Eurasian Wigeon female
The female Wigeon is, compared to the other dabbling ducks, relatively unpatterned. Especially the flanks are practically plain.
The mantle and the shoulder feathers are very strongly patterned and also quite dark, while the remaining plumage is rather rusty brown.
8. Red Crested Pochard
The Red-crested Pochard doesn’t belong to the dabbling ducks but to the diving ducks and is one of the most wanted duck hunting collectors. As the name suggests, diving ducks can search for food not only by dabbling and straining but also by diving. Unlike most diving ducks, the Red-crested Pochard feeds mainly on plants. The stonewort makes up a large part of their nutrition.
The distribution area of the Red-crested Pochard lies in Central, Southwest and Southeast Europe. The duck also breeds regularly in Romania, especially in South and South Est of Romania.
In winter, we have around 2500 pairs of Red Crested Pochards in Romania
One very interesting thing of this duck is even they have their own nest, sometimes they also lay eggs in other ducks nests, especially mallards nests
Male Red-crested Pochard
The male of the Red-crested Pochard is particularly striking because of its orange head and red beak. Besides the beak, the eye is red too.
Both the breast and the rump are black and are separated by white flanks.
In summer, the male can be observed in their eclipse plumage. This plumage is very similar to that of the female and only the red beak and the red eye distinguish males and females at this time of the year.
Female Red-crested Pochard
The female of the Red-crested Pochard is light brown to beige and plain. The upper part of the head is slightly darker than the throat and the ear.
It has a dark eye and the beak is mostly grey to dark grey.
9. Pochard
The Pochard is also a diving duck. It feeds on animal food which is typical for diving ducks. The food consists mainly of mussels, snails, larvae and other small animals or fish
In Romania, the Pochard is mainly a winter visitor, but is also breeding bird in Romania. The breeding population is estimated at around 1000-1500 breeding pairs.
The winter population is estimated to be at around 60,000 Pochards.
Pochard male
The male Pochard is characterized by its wine-red head and grey patterned body. The breast is coloured black.
Similar to the Red-crested Pochard, the male Pochard has red eyes. The female has a dark brown eye.
Pochard female
The female is mostly brown to grey coloured. Head and chest are unpatterned brown, while the rest of the body is slightly brighter and slightly patterned.
Many individuals have a pale eye-stripe and a lighter plumage at the base of the beak.
10. Tufted duck
The Tufted Duck is also a diving duck and, like the Pochard, feeds mainly on animal food. This duck is nesting in Romania, but as most of the others duck species they came in large number during the winter. They like big open waters and deep. In Europe, it is estimated a population of around 700 000 pairs. They can dive up to 14 meters searching for food.
Tufted Duck male
The Tufted Duck got its name because of the long tuft at the back of the head. This is particularly pronounced in the male.
The Tufted Duck male is, with the exception of the white flanks, coloured black. The feathers on the head can shimmer metallically depending on the light.
The yellow eye can be seen on both males and females.
Tufted Duck female
The female of the Tufted Duck is dark brown to black and only the flanks appear in a slightly brighter tone.
The tuft of feathers can be very pronounced or completely missing. This all depends from individual to individual. Some individuals also have white feathers at the base of the beak.
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