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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 .
[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]
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.
Radjah shelduck: Radjah radjah (Garnot & Lesson, RP, 1828) 55 Common shelduck: Tadorna tadorna (Linnaeus, 1758) 56 Ruddy shelduck: Tadorna ferruginea (Pallas, 1764) 57 South African shelduck: Tadorna cana (Gmelin, JF, 1789) 58 Australian shelduck: Tadorna tadornoides (Jardine & Selby, 1828) 59 Paradise shelduck: Tadorna variegata (Gmelin, JF ...
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]
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 ...
Paradise shelducks are the largest of the Tadorna species, measuring 63 to 71 cm (25 to 28 in) in length and between 1.09 and 2 kg (2.4 and 4.4 lb) in weight, averaging 1.72 kg (3.8 lb) in males and 1.29 kg (2.8 lb) in females, with a wingspan of around 90 centimetres (35 in).
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.