White-headed Duck Population Larger than Previously Thought

LaughingDove

LaughingDove

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
I saw this very interesting article in the NHBS newsletter today:

Currently considered globally Endangered, with a population estimated at no more than c. 13,000 individuals, and declining over most of its range (except in the western Mediterranean), White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala) needs some good news. This autumn, between 13 and 16 September 2016, more than 20,000 birds in three huge flocks were estimated to be present at three different wetlands in the Tengiz-Korgalzhyn Lakes complex, Akmola region, in Kazakhstan, with much smaller flocks observed at a number of additional lakes. The world population is thus clearly rather larger than had been thought. Nonetheless, the finding does raise questions as to where all of these birds breed, necessitating further surveys to identify important wetlands for the species throughout its annual cycle, and then protect them. More about the counts can be found at More than 20 thousand individuals of white-headed duck were registered in Akmola region — Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan
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White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala)
 
Even though the breeding locations still require been found, it is great news the global population of this nice duck species is much larger than previously thought. Some welcome news ...
 
The other important question is how well the purity of the species is being maintained....
 
TeaLovingDave said:
The other important question is how well the purity of the species is being maintained....
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I believe that the purity of the species was quite effectively maintained, and from what I have read, culls of hybrids and of pure Ruddy Ducks have been successful.
Also, I believe the introduced population of Ruddy Ducks was confined to the Western population of White-headed Ducks and it didn't spread to the Eastern population. Though please correct me if I am wrong on either of those points.
 
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