PAKHI DEKHOON PAKHI CHINOON ... OBSERVE THE BIRD AND RECOGNIZE...RED CRESTED POCHARD.

PAKHI DEKHOON PAKHI CHINOON #630... OBSERVE THE BIRD AND RECOGNIZE...RED CRESTED POCHARD... WATERCOLOUR...A4.. 2016...[From the photograph of MR. Suvadip Chowdhury] ... The red-crested pochard (Netta rufina) is a large diving duck. Its breeding habitat is lowland marshes and lakes in southern Europe and Central Asia, wintering in the Indian Subcontinent and Africa. It is somewhat migratory, and northern birds winter further south into north Africa.
53–58 cm; male 900–1420 g, female 830–1400 g; wingspan 84–90 cm. Breeding male unmistakable with dark chestnut head becoming rusty gold above.
The adult male is unmistakable. It has a rounded orange head, red bill and black breast. The flanks are white, the back brown, and the tail black. The female is mainly a pale brown, with a darker back and crown and a whitish face. Eclipse males are like females but with red bills. They are gregarious birds, forming large flocks in winter, often mixed with other diving ducks, such as common pochards. They feed mainly by diving or dabbling. They eat aquatic plants, and typically upend for food more than most diving ducks. Essentially vegetarian; roots, seeds and green parts of aquatic plants, also potatoes.
A wheezing veht call can be given by the male. Series of hoarse vrah-vrah-vrah calls can also be heard from females.
The red-crested pochard is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.