Pink-headed Duck

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{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Pink-headed Duck | status = Conservation status: Critical | image= Rhodonessa_caryophyllacea_hm.jpg | image_caption:Plate from Hume and Marshall, Game birds of India, Burmah and Ceylon. Illustration does not show crested appearance of head. | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Aves | ordo = Anseriformes | genus = Netta | species = N. caryophyllacea | binomial = Netta caryophyllacea | binomial_authority = (Latham, 1790) | synonyms = Rhodonessa caryophyllacea }}

The Pink-headed Duck (Netta caryophyllacea) is a large diving duck. It was formerly classified as Rhodonessa caryophyllacea, but has recently been shown by genetic analysis to be closely related to the Red-crested Pochard, Netta rufina, and has therefore now been transferred to the same genus.

This duck formerly occurred in northeast India and Myanmar, but is now probably extinct. It was always rare, and the last confirmed sighting was in 1935, although unconfirmed reports from India persisted until the early 1960s. Reports of pink-headed ducks continue to be received from the largely unexplored Mali Hka and Chindwin Myit drainages in Northern Myanmar. While the area is not very well surveyed by scientists, searches have been inconclusive and confusion with the Red-crested Pochard and the Spot-billed Duck has been a common source of supposed Pink-headed Duck sightings. A report on a survey in November 2003 (Babbler, 8:6; Birdlife International) concluded that there is sufficient reason to believe that Pink-headed ducks may still exist in Northern Myanmar's Kachin State. In 1988, Rory Nugent, an American birder, and Shankar Barua of New Delhi, reported spotting the elusive bird on the banks of the Brahmaputra. The pair started their quest for the bird at Saikhoa ghat on the north-eastern end of the river on the Indian side of the border. After 29 days of sailing, Nugent said that he saw the pink-headed duck amidst a flock of other wading birds. However, Nugent's and Barua's claimed sighting has not been enough to remove this duck from the list of extinct birds.

Its breeding habitat is lowland marshes and pools in elephant-grass jungle. The nest is built amongst grass. They are gregarious birds, and form flocks of 30 or more.

The 60 cm long Pink-headed Duck is unmistakable. It is long bodied and long necked, with a slightly tufted head. The adult male has a chocolate-coloured body and a deep pink head and hindneck. The female and juvenile are duller, appearing much like a dark female Red-crested Pochard with a pinkish tinge to the head. Confusion with male Red-crested Pochards stems mainly from observations of swimming birds, as the latter species also has a conspicuous red head. Spot-billed Ducks, on the other hand, look similar to female Pink-headed Ducks when in flight and seen from a distance; when the upper side of the wing cannot be reliably observed, they are nearly indistinguishable except for expert observers.

Pink-headed Ducks eat aquatic plants, and, like other Netta species, typically up-end for food much more than other diving ducks.

The reason for its disappearance was probably habitat destruction. It is not known why it was always considered rare, but the rarity is believed to be genuine (and not an artifact of insufficient fieldwork) as its erstwhile habitat was frequently scoured by hunters in Colonial times. The Pink-headed Duck was much sought after by hunters and later as an ornamental bird, mainly because of its unusual plumage. Like most diving ducks, it was not considered good eating, which should facilitate the survival of any remnant birds. The last specimen was shot in 1935 in Darbhanga, Bihar, India, by C.M.Inglis, who did not even know what he had killed, till his dog, a retriever, brought it to him. The dead bird later re-surfaced in the Government Museum in Madras in southern India, nearly 1000 miles away from where it had met its sad end. There it was on display at least until the 1980s. Sir David Ezra, a European living in what was then British India, kept some of these ducks in his aviary in Calcutta until 1945. Thus, captive flocks survived until at least 1945, but never bred for reasons unknown.

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