Baer's Pochard

Aythya baeri (Radde, 1863)

41–47 cmLength75 cmWingspan681 gWeight

The male has a blackish head and neck with a green metallic gloss, and white flanks visible above the water when floating.

Busiest months: January–February · Most records: China, Thailand, India

Looks like Ferruginous Duck

Critically Endangered

How to identify

Field marks

Male has a blackish head and neck with a green metallic gloss
Male has white or pale yellow eyes
White on the belly extends onto the flanks, visible when floating
Speculum and undertail-coverts white

Male, female and young

Female has a blackish-brown head and neck merging into the chestnut-brown breast and flanks, and rufous eyes; male has white or pale yellow eyes.

Voice

Usually very quiet; both sexes give a harsh “graaaak” during courtship.

Similar species

Ferruginous Duck

Baer's Pochard is larger, with a rounded crown, a gently sloping forehead and white extending onto the flanks; Ferruginous Duck has a high, triangular crown and white confined to the middle of the belly.

Where and when it's recorded

Baer's Pochard has been recorded at 216 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 13 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.

Countries and regions with the most records

China Thailand India Mongolia Nepal Philippines Myanmar (Burma)Japan

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

Baer's pochard (Aythya baeri) is a diving duck found in eastern Asia. It is a resident bird in North and Central China, and formerly bred in southeast Russia and Northeast China, migrating in winter to southern China, Vietnam, Japan, and India. Baer's pochard is a monotypic species.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia