Harlequin Duck

Histrionicus histrionicus (Linnaeus, 1758)

		male female
2017-04-01 Ust-Kamenogorsk 2017-03-01 VKO	© Konstantin Andrussenko © Viktor Kolesnikov

Description

Rather small short-billed diving duck looks dark (black from a far) with white spots. Male has chestnut spots on flanks. Female is more washy with dark-brown background, has white spots only on head. Wings are uniform dark-brownish in female; breeding male has little white spots in tertials and purple mirror, but in fly wing looks dark. Swims high unlike of other diving ducks, the tail is well visible. Summer male is similar to female but mantle is dark-grey. No similar species.

Distribution

Breeding range is in Eastern Siberia. In Kazakhstan one female recorded 13 and 18 of December 2016 in the flock with Goldeneyes at unfrozen spot of wintering waterfowls in inflow of Ulba river to Irtysh river in Ust-Kamenogorsk, by A.Isabekov (www.birds.kz). Before this record there is only note of E.A.Eversmann (1866) about winter records in the lakes of southern steppes, means probably Northern Trans-Caspian area. Near the borders of Kazakhstan recorded only at Nezhinka village near Orenburg where male duck was shot by N.A.Zarudny (1888).

Biology

Very rare vagrant in Kazakhstan.

References

В.К. Рябицев "Птицы Сибири", Москва-Екатеринбург, Изд-во "Кабинетный ученый", 2014.
"Птицы Казахстана" том 1. Издательство АН КазССР. Алма-Ата, 1960.