Diving Ducks

All 4 species of diving ducks on WAnimals

Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Conservation status

Where they live

Recorded in 57 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Where to see them

Did you know…?

• A diving duck that feeds on submerged plants 2-3 m down.

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• It went from Least Concern to Vulnerable in 2015 because of rapid declines across its range: it is a clear case of a common species collapsing without anyone noticing.

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• The causes of its decline in Russia are a revealing mosaic: steppe droughts, the abandonment of fish farms that served it as habitat, the hypereutrophication of lakes, the loss of black-headed gull colonies in its wetlands, and the spread of the invasive American mink and raccoon dog.

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• Its decline in the Spanish wetlands began in the middle of the last century with the conversion of lagoons and floodplains, especially the Guadalquivir marshes, though it was probably never very common in Spain.

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• Its scientific name combines the Greek aithuia, a seabird mentioned by Aristotle and Hesychius, with the Russian nyrok, meaning pochard.

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• Its conservation in Spain now depends more on what happens in other countries than on what is done in Spain itself.

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• Its ducklings leap from the tree hole where they hatch straight to the ground, unhurt.

Ecosystems