#pochards

[Nikon D500; AF-S Nikkor 500mm F5,6E PF ED VR]

Red-crested pochard @ WWT London by Adam Swaine Via Flickr: A frozen but beautiful Sunday morning at WWT at Barnes..the light was so beautiful and the reserve looked so beautiful under the blue winter sky...Larger than a Pochard, the male has an orange-brown head with a red beak and pale flanks (lower sides). Females are brown with pale cheeks. In flight, they show whitish underwings. They dive, dabble and up-end for their food. There is a large population in Spain but smaller numbers in France, Netherlands and Germany. Occasional wild birds may come to the UK from the Continent. The UK breeding birds almost certainly all come from escaped birds.

[Nikon D7100; ∑ 150/600mm C; 1/2000s; F7,1; 400 ISO]

Common pochard @ WWT London by Adam Swaine Via Flickr: The once-common pochard is now under threat because its populations are declining rapidly. The UK is an important winter destination for the pochard, with 48,000 birds visiting our wetlands and coasts.Pochards are diving ducks, known for their ability to plunge beneath the water in search of food – most of which is plant matter. They thrive in clean, deep waters.

The red-crested pochard is the largest of the pochards by Adam Swaine Via Flickr: The Red-crested pochard is a large diving duck which breeds in lowland marshes and lakes in southern Europe and Central Asia. They winter in India and Africa. The adult male is unmistakable. It has a rounded orange head, red bill and black breast. The female is pale brown, with darker back and crown and white face, as seen in the image below.

Red-crested pochard @ WWT London by Adam Swaine Via Flickr: The red-crested pochard is naturally found in a wide range extending from southern and central Europe across central Asia, as far west as Mongolia. Its attractive appearance has made it a popular bird in wildfowl collections in the UK. Over the years, red-crested pochards have escaped from collections and nested in the wild, leading to an established population in England.

Red-crested pochard @ WWT London by Adam Swaine Via Flickr: A frozen but beautiful Sunday morning at WWT at Barnes..the light was so beautiful and the reserve looked so beautiful under the blue winter sky...Larger than a Pochard, the male has an orange-brown head with a red beak and pale flanks (lower sides). Females are brown with pale cheeks. In flight, they show whitish underwings. They dive, dabble and up-end for their food. There is a large population in Spain but smaller numbers in France, Netherlands and Germany. Occasional wild birds may come to the UK from the Continent. The UK breeding birds almost certainly all come from escaped birds.