Common Pochard

The Common Pochard is a stocky diving duck with a long, sloping forehead. Breeding males combine a chestnut head, black breast and tail with a pale grey body and red eye. Females are warm brown with a darker crown and breast and a paler face. A broad pale-grey wing stripe appears in flight, but neither sex has the bold white flanks of a Tufted Duck (Wikipedia, general species account).

Common Pochards favour lakes, reservoirs and slow rivers with open water and productive shallows. They dive for aquatic plants, seeds, molluscs and other invertebrates, though they can also dabble near the surface. The female builds a down-lined nest among waterside vegetation and cares for the ducklings. Northern breeding populations migrate south and gather in mixed diving-duck flocks on Japanese wintering waters (Wikipedia, general species account).