| 2009 IUCN Red List Category (as evaluated by BirdLife International - the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN): Near Threatened Justification Although this species is clearly more abundant than once believed, it has been retained as Near Threatened owing to moderately rapid declines in China, as measured by survey data and inferred from very high levels of hunting.
Family/Sub-family Anatidae Species name author Georgi, 1775 Taxonomic source(s) AERC TAC (2003), AOU checklist (1998 + supplements), Cramp and Simmons (1977-1994), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993) Identification 48-54 cm. Relatively bulky dabbling duck. Breeding male unmistakeable, with grey body, large, maned head with green and bronze iridescence, white throat, buff and black undertail-coverts, and elongated, arched tertials. Female and eclipse plumage male fairly uniform dark brown, with paler buff belly. Similar spp. Female and eclipse male best separated from other Anas species by combination of buff belly, greyish legs, and distinctive shape: relatively short, heavy, but bouyant body with rather long dark grey bill. Voice On breeding grounds, male has a short, low whistle, followed by a wavering uit-trr. Female has a hoarse quack.
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Population estimate | Population trend | Range estimate (breeding/resident) | Country endemic? | 89,000 | decreasing | 4,690,000 km2 | No |
Range & population This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 1,000,000-10,000,000 km2. It breeds over much of south-east Siberia, Russia, south to northern Mongolia, China, and Japan. Although the global population was previously estimated to be 35,000 individuals, recent counts indicate that it is considerably higher, with perhaps as many as 89,000 in total9. The majority of birds spending the non-breeding season in China, (78,000), Japan (9,000), North Korea and South Korea (2,000)7,9. It also regularly winters in small numbers in Bangladesh, north-east India, Nepal (rare and irregular1), Taiwan, and northern Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam (very rare visitor6), with vagrants recorded from Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Canada, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malta, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Turkey, and the Aleutian Islands of the United States5. Escapes from waterfowl collections mask the extent of vagrancy to western Europe. The species appears to be declining in southern China, remaining common only in Dongting Hu, Hunan Province3 and there have been notable declines at least locally in the breeding range, for instance, on Lake Udyl the total number of Falcated Duck broods has fallen from 530 to 120 broods since the 1980s8. Of 14,763 individuals counted in a 2005 survey of China, 13,605 were in Hunan Province, and 970 in Hubei Province2. Populations in Japan and Korea appear to have remained stable or declined only slightly3. It also appears to have become less frequent in Nepal1.
| Important Bird Areas Click here to view map showing IBAs where species is recorded and triggers any of the IBA criteria. | Ecology: The species breeds by water-meadows and lakes in lowland valleys, both in open and partly wooded areas. It winters on lowland rivers, lakes, flooded meadows, and, less frequently, coastal lagoons and estuaries5. It is usually seen in pairs or small parties, with large flocks formed outside the breeding season, mixing with other dabbling ducks (particularly Eurasian Wigeon A. penelope and Northern Pintail A. acuta) 5. The breeding season is May to July. Birds dabble and up-end for food in open water near emergent vegetation, or sometimes graze in waterside grassland or crops5.
| Threats Hunting for food, for subsistence and local markets, is probably the major threat. This is particularly true on the non-breeding grounds in China, with an estimated 33,000-37,000 individuals of this species taken along the lower and middle Yangtze River basins in each of the four winters from 1988-19925.
| | Conservation measures underway The species occurs in a number of protected areas.
| | Conservation measures proposed Continue to monitor non-breeding populations. Formulate national and local hunting or shooting regulations5. Educate people about the plight of waterfowl, and provide alternative employment opportunities for local hunters5. Improve management of existing wetland nature reserves on the non-breeding grounds5.
| References 1. H.S. Baral in litt. (2005). 2. M. Barter in litt. (2005). 3. S. Chan in litt. (2005). 4. Lu Jianjian (1992). 5. Madge and Burn (1988). 6. A.W. Tordoff in litt. (2005). 7. Wetlands International (2002). 8. Poyarkov (2006). 9. Lei and Barter in litt. (2007).
| Text account compilers Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Jonathan Ekstrom (BirdLife International), Simon Mahood (BirdLife International), John Pilgrim (BirdLife International) | Contributors Hem Sagar Baral (Bird Conservation Nepal), Mark Barter, Lei Cao, Simba Chan (Wild Bird Society of Japan), A. W. Tordoff (BirdLife International in Indochina) | IUCN Red List evaluators Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Simon Mahood (BirdLife International) |
| Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Anas falcata. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 10/2/2010 | This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List. To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife To contribute to discussions on the evaluation of the IUCN Red List status of Globally Threatened Birds, please visit BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums |
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