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Common Pochard

The Common Pochard (Aythya ferina) is an average-size duck with a short tail. It can be distinguished by its long neck, its long beak, its flattened forehead and its lightly conical crown. The common pochard’s wings have a diffuse greyish line. During the period of courtship, the male displays a brownish red head and a black beak with a bright grey distal line. The eye is red, the chest black, the flanks and the back are of a bright gull grey. When it flies, the mean grey wing covers and the bright grey wing bar are visible. The female common pochard is brownish grey and her flanks and back are greyish. Its chest, crown, and neck are more of a dark brown. It has red brown eyes and displays diffuse bright and dark patterns on the head. The ducklings are similar to the female aside from their plumage which is more uniform and their iris is yellowish olive.

This duck eats aquatic plants, molluscs and larvae by diving to the bottom of waterbodies. During the nesting period, it is found in high dense borders of aquatic vegetation as well as in covert thick places away from predators. It likes mean depth ponds of fresh or brackish water, artificial water bodies with lush benthos, and underwater vegetation. This species can be found from north to south as well as from east to west in Canada and the United States.

Common pochard couples change every year and come together at the end of winter or in the beginning of spring. Drakes strut in loud groups while moving their head and doing their other grooming rituals. The nest is a small grass and reed platform covered with down. It is located close to a pond, on the ground in the midst of vegetation. Around May or June, the female lays 6 to 11 eggs that are sat on for 23 to 28 days. The ducklings are precocial and usually leave the nest early (40 to 45 days after their birth).