Some 10 years ago it was a species not to see in Europe. Now you can see it in several locations. I first saw them in 2008 in English WWT Arundel. Then I saw this species in Zoo Cologne (2010), Prague Zoo (2012), Tierpark Berlin (here the first time I saw them in 2009), Blackbrook Zoo (2009), Zoo Wuppertal (2010). On Sunday, during my visit in Tierpark, I saw only one pair in the dome aviary with various gulls species and some other ducks.
Small numbers have been in private aviculture in Europe for some years. I don't know if that's where the zoo birds originated, or the zoo birds came first. They suddenly started appearing perhaps 5 years ago in European zoos and the number of places with the species has continued to grow. They have bred in Berlin and elsewhere. It reminds me of Baer's pochard: Though it has a longer zoo history, it had started to disappear only to suddenly re-appear more places a few years ago. I guess the new interest is in response to their problematic situation in the wild.
