Tufted Duck

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{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Tufted Duck | status = Conservation status: Lower risk (lc) | image = tufted.duck.arp.500pix.jpg | image_width = 200px | image_caption = Male | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Aves | ordo = Anseriformes | familia = Anatidae | genus = Aythya | species = A. fuligula | binomial = Aythya fuligula | binomial_authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) }}

The Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) is a medium-sized diving duck. The population of this abundant duck is probably close to one million birds.

1 Description
2 Distribution
3 Habitat
4 Food

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Description

The adult male is all black except for white flanks and a blue-grey bill. It has an obvious head tuft that gives the species its name. The only drake duck which is at all similar is the North American Ring-necked Duck, which however has a different head shape, no tuft and greyish flanks.

The adult female is brown with paler flanks, and is more easily confused with other diving ducks. In particular, some have white around the bill base which resembles the scaup species, although the white is never as extensive as in those ducks.

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Distribution

It breeds widely throughout temperate and northern Eurasia as well as North America. It is believed to have expanded its traditional range with the increased availability of open water due to gravel extraction, and the spread of freshwater mussels, a favourite food. These ducks are migratory in most of their range, and winter in the milder south and west of Europe and southern Asia. They will form large flocks on open water in winter.

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