The family of ducks is quite extensive, unites more than 100 species. This is a pegans, white-headed duck, steamer duck, kloktun, multi-colored teal, mallard, broad-toed, Brazilian merganser, musky duck, red-headed duck and others.
The article will tell you more about the latest species of the duck family.
Description
The red-headed duck is a duck, whose weight reaches 1400 grams. The bird has a dense body, slightly squeezed from the sides. During the flight, it raises the legs strongly, which is why it takes on a peculiar curved shape. The size of the head is equal to the size of the beak. The color of the male (drake) is red-brown with a purple sheen, and the duck's head is red. The wingspan is 0.6-0.8 meters. Red-headed duck drake is larger than the female. She has an interesting plumage in her own way. The back and chest are dark gray, may be brown. Chest and abdomen are light gray in color. The color of the beak turns from gray to dirty blue. Paws of individuals of both sexes are massive, gray in color. In the drake, the chest, together with the shoulders of a black tone, the back is gray, the sides are as if pierced by transverse ripples. The beak, unlike the female, is pale blue, dark from above.
Habits
Red-headed duck - an excellent diver, immersed in water for 30-40 seconds. This bird is silent. The female has a hoarse voice, mainly she screams during the flight. The drake occasionally makes a sound like a whistle during a current.
The red-headed dive, the photo of which is in the article, is difficult to take off, but it flies quickly. His wings make a rather sharp sound when flapping. Leads a mobile life, most of which he spends on the water.
Representatives of this species can live up to 20 years, but the average duration of their life is much shorter. Mostly centenarians are captive birds, where they are looked after, treated and fed properly.
Red-headed Dive: Habitat
Where do these birds live? Initially, dives lived in the zone of steppes and forest-steppes, but gradually the habitat expanded, and the birds settled on the warm lakes of Europe, located in the north and west. This is explained by the lack of water in habitual places of settlement due to natural changes and the appearance of lakes convenient for breeding in industrial cities of Europe.
The territory of settlement (nesting range) is very extensive: it stretches from Britain to Lake Baikal, from the Caspian and Black Seas to the Amu Darya and the legendary Semirechye. The southern border of the dive settlement is the area of anhydrous salt marshes. In the USA and Canada, it can be found on the northern lakes (Athabasca, Buffalo, Manitoba), in the east in the Nebraska delta and in the mountainous regions of Sierra Nevada in the west of the mainland. In Africa, these birds live in the south to the Cape Verde, and also in Arabia.
Winter red-headed duck dives in the Baltic, North Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean and Caspian shores, and also on the Japanese islands, on the Syrian and Iraqi coasts, in the coastal regions of Iran and Pakistan and in northern India.
Shedding is an important period in life
At a certain time, the drakes of the dives go for a short molt. Every year they fly to the same place, where they gather in large flocks. Shedding takes place mainly in the lake forest-steppe. The first time they molt in the summer is the reset of the mating attire, and again, in the fall, before new mating games. Young drakes first molt in September and then completely change their plumage.
The female goes through a period of molting at the nest, and if she does not have a brood, then she will molt along with the males.
Migration Diving Routes
Dives are migratory and settled. The latter live exclusively on the islands of Britain. Dives from Norway, from the north of Germany, from the Baltic states and from the north of Russia come and winter here. They leave for nests in pairs after ice has melted from water bodies.
On the Kokchetav lakes (northern Kazakhstan) and lakes in the Kurgan region, a small part of the birds from the Urals, Western Siberia and the Khanty-Mansiysk District is going to molt. Most of the drakes circled there fly to the Mediterranean Sea, where they winter. They fly, bypassing the mountains of the Southern Urals, the lowlands of the Don and southern Ukraine. A small part of them remains on the Black Sea coast. Some fly to the Caspian.
After the British wintering in March, the time comes for a flight that runs until the end of April. Birds begin to leave the northwestern regions of the Black Sea in early April. Adjara is leaving at the end of March. From Iraq fly in March. Diving at the nesting sites late. On the Middle Volga it appears in the twenties of April, but until the end of May you can still see small flocks of migratory birds. At the end of April, one can observe the mass passage of these birds through Tatarstan.
Red-headed diving wintering in the Japanese islands fly away in late April. Drakes are the first to fly away, after them, two weeks later, females and young birds fly.
Nesting
He likes to nest in deep lakes of the taiga, forest-steppe, where there are a large number of reeds, and in open areas. In the nesting area, birds fly in small flocks, almost touching the water. They coexist well with other species of ducks, do not compete with them in terms of forage extraction, since they feed mainly at night. When they multiply, they prefer a plant menu. During flights and in wintering, birds join in huge flocks.
A common method for locating a nest attached to the stems of water crops. The basis is a fallen tree made of reed or cattail, in which the average deepening is done. Then the red-headed dive described above lays it with the fluff plucked from the breast, and surrounds it with a downhill in the form of a roller. This floating structure is well attached and based on water thanks to the stems and roots of water plants. Another nest is built on the bumps and tubercles, overgrown with sedge, on the shore, not far from the water. It is made from the foliage of coastal plants; it is 30 cm in diameter and 25 cm in height.
Food
Feeding places for them are ponds in which there is a lot of aquatic vegetation, sometimes not very large. Also, they do not avoid salt lakes that have food. The nutrition of dives is both plant and animal (larvae, mosquitoes, midges, tadpoles, etc.). Diet varies depending on the season. In transitions - in spring and autumn - vegetable food, and in winter and summer - animal food.
Breeding
How does a red-headed dive breed? The female reaches puberty after the first (sometimes second) year of life, the spleen matures in the second year. Mating games are conducted at nesting sites. Several drakes usually look after one female, which they surround on the water and show dances, throwing their heads high, and make whistling sounds. The female has the right to choose a partner. She mates with him, makes a nest and hatches eggs. In April - May, ducks begin to create masonry. Some nests may contain eggs of two or three females, as some negligent mothers throw their eggs in the nests of their neighbors. Sometimes the clutch dies for an unknown reason, then the female lays her eggs in a new place. In the clutch of a dive - from 8 to 12 eggs, their color is greenish-blue. The female hatches eggs for about 25 days.
Offspring of a dive
Emerging chicks weigh from 40 to 50 grams and are in the nest until dry. Drakes do not take part in caring for ducklings, they do not approach the nest. At first they are nearby. They feed with females, then gather in small same-sex flocks. Leaving the nest, the duck covers the chicks with down.
Ducklings on the third day already dive well and can catch insects. The litter of hatched chicks is very dense. On the second day, they independently get their own food, peck insects and plant seeds, dive. Monthly chicks are already fully fledged, and two-month-olds are able to fly. Chicks huddle in flocks, keep on thickets of reed and sedge. In danger, ducklings are buried in them.
In early August, they leave the nests, go on to nomadic life.
