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The common shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) is a waterfowl species of the shelduck genus, Tadorna. It is widespread and common in the Euro-Siberian region of the Palearctic , mainly breeding in temperate and wintering in subtropical regions; in winter, it can also be found in the Maghreb .
They are large, black-and-white or completely black, with long wings and deeply forked tails. The males have coloured inflatable throat pouches. They do not swim or walk and cannot take off from a flat surface. Having the largest wingspan-to-body-weight ratio of any bird, they are essentially aerial, able to stay aloft for more than a week. [25]
[4] [5] The type species is the common shelduck. [5] The genus name comes from the French name Tadorne for the common shelduck. [6] It may originally derive from Celtic roots meaning "pied waterfowl", essentially the same as the English "shelduck". [7] A group of them is called a "dopping," taken from the Harley Manuscript. [8]
They are large, black-and-white or completely black, with long wings and deeply forked tails. The males have coloured inflatable throat pouches. They do not swim or walk and cannot take off from a flat surface. Having the largest wingspan-to-body-weight ratio of any bird, they are essentially aerial, able to stay aloft for more than a week.
The root box is estimated from a measurement of the wing width at the base (the root chord) and the difference between the wingspan and two times the extent of a single wing. [10] Alternatively, the total wing area can be estimated using the wingspan, wing length, and wing width and assuming simple geometric figures for the shape of the wings.
Ruddy shelduck at 4,250 m (13,940 ft), Chandra Taal, Spiti, Himachal Pradesh. The ruddy shelduck grows to a length of 58 to 70 cm (23 to 28 in) and has a 110–135 cm (43–53 in) wingspan. The male has orange-brown body plumage and a paler, orange-brown head and neck, separated from the body by a narrow black collar.
This article follows a common definition of Europe as being bounded to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, to the east and north-east by the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, and the Caspian Sea, and to the south-east by the Caucasus Mountains, the Black Sea, and the waterways connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Australian shelduck mainly breeds in southern Australia and Tasmania and is still fairly common. [7] In the winter, many birds move farther north than the breeding range. As with other shelducks, this species has favourite moulting grounds, such as Lake George, New South Wales, where sizeable concentrations occur. The Australian shelduck's ...