Garganey

Adult males in breeding plumage have a distinctive broad white eyebrow curving down the neck against a dark reddish-brown head, finely barred grey-brown body, and long, pale blue-grey scapulars drooping over the back. Females and non-breeding males are mottled brown, similar to other female dabbling ducks.

The male's striking white supercilium, pale blue-grey forewing patch, and finely patterned grey flanks are key identifiers.

Length: 37-41 cm, Wingspan: 59-67 cm, Weight: 300-500 g

Males make a distinctive, dry, crackling rattle call during courtship, while females emit a soft quack.

Omnivorous, feeding on seeds, aquatic plants, roots, insects, molluscs, and small crustaceans by dabbling and tipping up.

Shallow freshwater wetlands, marshes, floodplains, and shallow lakes with abundant emergent vegetation.

Strictly migratory; unlike many other ducks, virtually all Palearctic populations winter entirely in tropical Africa and South Asia.

Nests on the ground in dense vegetation near water. Lays 8 to 11 yellowish-white eggs. Incubation is done solely by the female.

Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca), which is smaller, lacks the broad white eyebrow, and has a green speculum.

Acts as a seed disperser and helps control aquatic invertebrate populations, serving as an important part of wetland food webs.

Least Concern, with a generally stable global population trend.

Look for them in shallow, well-vegetated wetlands, often associating with other dabbling ducks during migration.

The Garganey is one of the few migratory ducks that travels completely out of the northern temperate zone to winter entirely south of the Sahara and in the tropics.