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Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea

Status

Category E

Native Range

Europe, Asia and Africa. Resident in Belgium, The Netherlands, western Germany and western Austria. Also resident in northernmost Africa (Western Sahara to Tunisia) Ethiopia. Resident in Iraq, Iran and and the far north-east of Saudi Arabia. Breeds widely from the Caspian Sea eastwards to China, wintering in Pakistan, India eastwards through northern Indochina into southern China.

Conservation Status

Least Concern

British Occurrence

NBN atlas has 9168 records as at Jan 2025. Map Here

Ruddy Shelduck is in Category B because of accepted wild records prior to 1950.

It is commonly kept in captivity (10 holdings are cited in the UK in Zootierliste) but Vinicombe believes it can be an irruptive late summer vagrant and that some recent records could have been wild birds.

Where to see Ruddy Shelduck in captivity

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Sources

Vinicombe K. Birdwatch September 2001 page 22-23