Common Pochard, Tafeleend, Tafelente, Zarro-comum, Porrón Europeo
Spotted in the Alentejo region of Portugal. Pochard sound
The Common Pochard (Aythya ferina) is a medium-sized diving duck.
The adult male has a long dark bill with a grey band, a red head and neck, a black breast, red eyes and a grey back. The adult female has a brown head and body and a narrower grey bill-band. The triangular head shape is distinctive. Pochards are superficially similar to the closely related North American Redhead and Canvasback.
Their breeding habitat is marshes and lakes with a metre or more water depth. Pochards breed in much of temperate and northern Europe into Asia. They are migratory, and winter in the southern and west of Europe.
These are gregarious birds, forming large flocks in winter, often mixed with other diving ducks such as Tufted Duck, with which they are known to hybridise.
These birds feed mainly by diving or dabbling. They eat aquatic plants with some molluscs, aquatic insects and small fish. They often feed at night, and will up-end for food as well as the more characteristic diving.
In the British Isles, birds breed in eastern England and lowland Scotland, in small numbers in Northern Ireland with numbers increasing gradually, and sporadically in the Republic of Ireland. Large numbers overwinter in Great Britain, after the birds retreat from Russia and Scandinavia.
The Pochard is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
Other synonyms:
Asturian: Coríu, Parru
Breton: Ar morilhon penn ruz
Catalan: Boix, Morell cap-roig, Morell de cap roig, Moretó capvermell
Catalan (Balears): Moretó capvermell
Valencian: Boix
Czech: Polák velký
Welsh: Hwyad bengoch, Hwyaden bengoch
Danish: Taffeland
German: Tafelente
Emiliano-romagnolo: Magass
English: Common Pochard, Eurasian Pochard, European Pochard, European pochart, Northern Pochard, Pochard, Red-headed Diver
Esperanto: Brunkapa anaso
Spanish: Porron Comun, Porrón común, Porrón Euroasiático, Porrón Europeo, Prooón Europeo, Zambullidor europeo
Estonian: Punapea-vart
Basque: Morell de cap roig, Murgilari arrunt, Murgilari arrunta
Finnish: Punasotka
Faroese: Høvuðreyð ont
French: Fuligule milouin, Milouin d’Europe
Frisian: Karein
Irish: Lacha mhásach, Póiseard
Gaelic: Lach Mhàsach
Galician: Morell de cap roig, Pato chupón
Manx: Kione Mollagh, Thunnag hummee
Croatian: Glavata Patka
Hungarian: Barátréce
Icelandic: Skutulönd
Italian: Colràs, Moriglione, Moriglione eurasiatico
Modenese: Colràs
Japanese: hoshihajiro, Hoshi-hajiro
Cornish: Hos pencough
Latin: Aristonetta ferina, Aythya ferina, Nyroca ferina
Maltese: Brajmla
Dutch: Tafeleend
Norwegian: Taffeland
Portuguese: Zarro, zarro comum, Zarro-comum
Romansh: Anda fustga
Russian: Krasnogolovy Nyrok
Sardinian: Cabarosu
Scots: Lach mhasach
Slovenian: sivka
Albanian: Kryekuqe e mjemë
Serbian: patka ridoglavka, Ridjoglava plovka
Swedish: Brunand
Swahili: Bata Kichwa-chekundu
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