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Pochard

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Birds

                     iPochard

                             Conservation status

   Least Concern (LC)
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Aves
   Order:   Anseriformes
   Family:  Anatidae
   Genus:   Aythya
   Species: A. ferina

                                Binomial name

   Aythya ferina
   (Linnaeus, 1758)

   The Pochard (Aythya ferina) is a medium-sized diving duck.

   The adult male has a long dark bill with a grey band, a red head and
   neck, a black breast, black eyes and a grey back. The adult female has
   a brown head and body and a narrower grey bill band. The triangular
   head shape is distinctive. Pochards are superficially similar to the
   closely related North American Redhead and Canvasback.

   Their breeding habitat is marshes and lakes with a metre or more water
   depth. Pochards breed in much of temperate and northern Europe into
   Asia. They are migratory, and winter in the southern and west of
   Europe.

   These are gregarious birds, forming large flocks in winter, often mixed
   with other diving ducks, such as Tufted Duck, which they are known to
   hybridise with.

   These birds feed mainly by diving or dabbling. They eat aquatic plants
   with some molluscs, aquatic insects and small fish. They often feed at
   night, and will upend for food as well as the more characteristic
   diving.
   Pochard male
   Enlarge
   Pochard male

   In the British Isles, birds breed in eastern England and lowland
   Scotland, and in small numbers in Northern Ireland, with numbers
   increasing gradually. Large numbers overwinter in Great Britain, after
   retreating from Russia and Scandinavia.

   The Pochard is one of the species to which the Agreement on the
   Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds ( AEWA) applies.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pochard"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
