Ruddy Shelduck — it is a bird from the Duck family, Anseriformes order. Its Latin name is Tadorna ferruginea. This is rather large duck and thanks to its bright red plumage, it is one of the most recognizable.
Ruddy Shelduck inhabits on lakes with rare vegetation and avoids overgrown ponds. Representatives of this species easily move on land and they run fast when necessary. They swim by immersing the front of the body in the water, but hardly do dive. Ruddy Shelduck is loud throughout the year, when bird is in flight it often makes loud guttural sounds. The female’s voice is louder and deeper than the male’s.
Duck’s food is frugal. Duck is able to get food both in the water and on land. The basis of its ration is greenery: grass, shoots, seeds and cereals. Ducks eat large grasshoppers, locusts, small fish, frogs, shellfish and crustaceans. However, in the absence of live food they well manage with vegetation. Ducks pick up the grains remaining after harvesting in the fields in late summer.
Birds usually rest in the water or on the banks of water bodies in the daytime. They go out to eat at dawn and in the evening. Oftentimes You can see this: they sleep standing on one leg digest the eaten food.
In spring, ducks return from wintering in pairs, which are persisted during the whole breeding season and possibly in several years. They arrange their homes in the burrows of foxes, badgers and marmots, occupying them for a long time. Sometimes they settle in abandoned buildings, hollows, haystacks or create open nests under the cover of shrubs and trees. They can even themselves dig holes in sandy cliffs.
Females make nests from the stems and leaves of cereals and lining them abundantly in fluff. They have 7-12 eggs in the clutch. Males carу about offspring in the same way as females. They keep close to the nest all the time and actively drive away feathered and land predators. Parents take the chicks to the nearest body of water and guard them until they rise to the wing.
Ruddy Shelduck is listed in the Red Book of the Kurgan region. The population on the Kurgan region territory counts approximately a few dozens of pairs.
Ruddy Shelduck inhabits on lakes with rare vegetation and avoids overgrown ponds. Representatives of this species easily move on land and they run fast when necessary. They swim by immersing the front of the body in the water, but hardly do dive. Ruddy Shelduck is loud throughout the year, when bird is in flight it often makes loud guttural sounds. The female’s voice is louder and deeper than the male’s.
Duck’s food is frugal. Duck is able to get food both in the water and on land. The basis of its ration is greenery: grass, shoots, seeds and cereals. Ducks eat large grasshoppers, locusts, small fish, frogs, shellfish and crustaceans. However, in the absence of live food they well manage with vegetation. Ducks pick up the grains remaining after harvesting in the fields in late summer.
Birds usually rest in the water or on the banks of water bodies in the daytime. They go out to eat at dawn and in the evening. Oftentimes You can see this: they sleep standing on one leg digest the eaten food.
In spring, ducks return from wintering in pairs, which are persisted during the whole breeding season and possibly in several years. They arrange their homes in the burrows of foxes, badgers and marmots, occupying them for a long time. Sometimes they settle in abandoned buildings, hollows, haystacks or create open nests under the cover of shrubs and trees. They can even themselves dig holes in sandy cliffs.
Females make nests from the stems and leaves of cereals and lining them abundantly in fluff. They have 7-12 eggs in the clutch. Males carу about offspring in the same way as females. They keep close to the nest all the time and actively drive away feathered and land predators. Parents take the chicks to the nearest body of water and guard them until they rise to the wing.
Ruddy Shelduck is listed in the Red Book of the Kurgan region. The population on the Kurgan region territory counts approximately a few dozens of pairs.
