Spatula querquedula
The Garganey, *Spatula querquedula*, is a small, elegant dabbling duck renowned for its striking sexual dimorphism during the breeding season. Males are instantly recognizable by their warm brown head adorned with a prominent, broad white supercilium extending from the eye to the nape, contrasting with grey flanks and a mottled brown body. Females are less conspicuous, featuring a mottled brown plumage, an indistinct dark eye-line, and a pale base to the bill, though both sexes flash a distin...
Garganeys primarily inhabit shallow freshwater wetlands, including flooded meadows, marshes, and slow-moving rivers with abundant emergent vegetation. They prefer lowland areas, avoiding deep or fast-flowing water.
Their diet consists mainly of aquatic invertebrates, such as insect larvae, crustaceans, and mollusks, supplemented by seeds and vegetative parts of aquatic plants. They primarily forage by dabbling and filter-feeding in shallow waters.
Garganeys are largely diurnal, engaging in active foraging and social interactions during the day, often roosting communally in sheltered vegetated areas overnight. They are quintessential dabbling ducks, feeding by filtering water through their bills at the surface or by up-ending in shallow wat...
The Garganey boasts an extensive breeding range across the Palearctic, stretching from Western Europe (including scattered populations in the British Isles and France) eastward through Central and Eastern Europe, across Russia and Siberia, and into East Asia, encompassing parts of Japan and China...
Least Concern
- The name "Garganey" is onomatopoeic, derived from the distinctive, grating "crrrrek" call of the male. - It is one of the few dabbling ducks where the male exhibits such a pronounced and easily identifiable breeding plumage, including its striking white supercilium. - Garganeys undertake one of...