I took this picture of some ducks for you to identify. In the image, there are a few identifying characteristics that are unique to this very unusual species. On Friday around noon, I will reveal the species.
Hint: It’s not a North American species.
Update: These are pink-eared ducks (Malacorhynchus membranaceus)
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The Madagascar pochard (Aythya innotata) is one of the rarest birds in the world (pochards are a group of diving ducks). In fact, it was believed to be extinct at one time. However, by chance, an isolated but tiny population was discovered several years before when “the Peregrine Fund, who were scouting for a threatened bird of prey, the Madagascar Harrier, observed 20 adult pochards living on a single lake in northern Madagascar.” Subsequent expeditions failed to locate new populations of the Madagascar pochard. Consequently, the next step was to bring the rare pochard into some type of captive breeding program (especially since—probably due to predation—there’s a high mortality of ducklings in the wild).
As a Returned Peace Corps volunteer from Madagascar, with a passion for waterfowl, the announcement that an international team consisting of the “Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), The Peregrine Fund and the Government of Madagascar,” with the goal of establishing a conservation breeding program for the pochard, was great news to read.
To start the conservation breeding program, eggs were collected from the wild. Consequently, “eight ducklings are now reported to be doing very well, but work continues as the team attempts to secure two more clutches from the wild over the next few weeks.”
Personally, while in Madagascar, I did not spend too much time searching for the Madagascar pochard, because I had other duties. However, when visiting Lake Alaotra—Madagascar’s largest lake and the pochard’s former stronghold—or Torotorofotsy marsh near Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, I looked for the pochard. Obviously, I did not find it, but I did observe Meller’s ducks (Anas melleri) and red-billed teal (Anas erythrorhyncha).
I believe that unknown populations of the Madagascar pochard still exist in poorly explored areas of Madagascar. However, due to another political crisis, Madagascar’s national resources are being illegally pillaged. Consequently, aggressive conservation efforts are needed. However, now that the species is one step closer to being propagated in captivity, its survival is further guaranteed. More from guardian.co.uk:
Conservationists battling to save the world’s rarest duck have managed to almost double the bird’s population in Madagascar in just one month, it was revealed today.
Fewer than 20 Madagascar pochard were believed to be living on just one lake in the wild.
But a last-gasp conservation plan to save the birds has resulted in two broods totalling 17 ducklings being found and raised in captivity.
A third clutch of seven eggs were discovered earlier this week and are being incubated.
If they all hatch successfully the Madagascar pochard population will have more than doubled in the space of a few weeks.
The conservationists are looking after the ducklings in a hotel room due to the last-minute nature of their quest.
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“Despite almost every conceivable obstacle, in just a few short weeks we have almost doubled the world population — albeit that half of them are in a hotel bathroom! It will be a long road to full recovery for the Madagascar pochard, but we have achieved everything we could have hoped for in this first step.”
The critically endangered duck is so rare that it was declared extinct in the late 1990s until scientists found a few of the birds by chance during a trip to Madagascar in 2006.
To stop the beautiful cinnamon-coloured diving duck slipping permanently into extinction a team of bird specialists known as “team pochard” devised a conservation plan that was due to be implemented next year.
They were hoping to collect some of the pochards’ eggs, incubate them and raise the ducklings via a conservation breeding programme.
On the Net:
Image Found Here
Image Found Here
Image Found Here
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Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse my work or me and their image is protected under an attribution license.
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Update 8 August 2009: Three Saskatchewan men arrested in connection with YouTube duck shooting video
What’s wrong with people?
Someone posted a video showing poachers callously shooting ducks out of season. Some of the shooting even takes place from a car window. Apparently, one of the poachers originally posted the video on YouTube. However, the original account has been closed, but the video has been preserved here. You can watch the video below, but it’s very graphic and disturbing.
There’s a Facebook group aimed at finding these poachers, and the group has contact information to report these guys. From The Gazette:
Wildlife officers and hunters are beating the bushes for three unidentified young men seen on a YouTube video, giggling while gunning down ducklings from a parked car.
The four-minute video, which boasts more than 20,000 viewings in four days, shows the trio committing a number of crimes as they blast away at ducklings and other protected waterfowl in a pond — believed to be somewhere in rural Alberta or Saskatchewan — while cracking jokes.
“I was disgusted,” said Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation executive director Darrell Crabbe. “It doesn’t look like they have been out of the evolutionary tree very long. These yahoos didn’t show any ethics at any level.”
Warning: “Video contains profanity and possible graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised“
YOU CAN HELP BRING THESE MEN TO JUSTICE BY MAKING THIS STORY VIRAL:
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released a report on “Trends in Duck Breeding Populations, 1955-2009.” According to the report, “the total duck population,” excluding scoters, eiders, long-tailed ducks, mergansers, and wood ducks, shows an estimated “13% increase over last year’s estimate of 37.3± 0.6 million birds and was 25% above the long-term average.” Even the number of Canvasbacks are up. The report can be found here. More from The Chattanoogan:
In addition to extensive grassland cover, one of the most important elements in duck breeding success is the amount of water present in portions of prairie and parkland Canada and north-central United States. Total pond counts for the United States and Canada combined showed 6.4 million ponds, a 45 percent increase from last year’s estimate, and 31 percent above the long-term average. Habitat conditions in 2009 were mostly a good news scenario. Conditions across the southern portions of the Canadian and U.S prairies improved considerably from 2008.
However, drought remained in some parts of the traditional survey area, including western portions of the Prairie Pothole Region. Southern Alberta saw a decrease in ponds of 19 percent. This area contrasted sharply with record amounts of snow and rainfall in the Dakotas. The north-central U.S., which includes the Dakotas, saw a 108 percent increase in total ponds. Above average snowfall this winter and considerable precipitation in late spring recharged wetlands across the Dakotas and eastern Montana.
The Canadian parklands received below-normal precipitation, but waterfowl habitat in this area continued to benefit from above-normal precipitation received in 2007. In the Boreal Forest, spring break-up was delayed as much as three weeks and most large lakes across the region remained frozen in early June. Overall habitat conditions in this important region were considered good.
The FWS spring surveys provide the scientific basis for many management programs across the continent including the setting of hunting regulations. The four Flyway Councils will meet in late July to recommend and adopt the season structure and bag limits for 2009-10. Individual states will make their specific selections within a federal framework of season length, bag limit, and outside dates. Hunters should check their state’s rules for final dates.
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Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse my work or me and their image is protected under an attribution license.
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