Editing Pink-headed duck (section)

==Status==
[[File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.110082 - Rhodonessa caryophyllacea (Latham, 1790) - Pink-headed Duck - specimen - video.webm|thumbtime=0:07|left|thumb|Turnaround video of a specimen, [[Naturalis Biodiversity Center]]]]
This [[duck]] formerly occurred in eastern [[India]], [[Nepal]], [[Bangladesh]] and northern [[Myanmar]],<ref>{{cite journal|author=Jardine, E. R. |year=1909 |title= Occurrence of the Pink-headed Duck (''Rhodonessa caryophyllacea'') in Burma| journal= J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. |volume=19|issue=1|page= 264|url= https://archive.org/stream/journalofbombayn19abomb#page/264/mode/1up/}}</ref> but is now probably [[List of extinct birds|extinct]]. It was always rare,<ref>{{cite journal|author=Whistler, H. |author-link=Hugh Whistler|year=1916| title= The Pink-headed Duck ''Rhodonessa caryophyllacea'', Lath. in the Punjab| journal= J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. |volume= 24|issue=3|page=599|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30152188}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Hume, A. O. |year=1879| title=Gleanings from the Calcutta market| journal=Stray Feathers| volume=7|issue=6|pages=479–498|url=https://archive.org/stream/strayfeathersjou71878hume#page/492/mode/1up/}}</ref> and the last confirmed sighting, by [[Charles M. Inglis|C. M. Inglis]], was from Bhagownie, Darbhangha District, in June 1935, with reports from India persisting until the early 1960s. These include reports from [[Monghyr]]<ref>{{cite journal|author=Singh, Laliteshwar Prasad | year=1966| title= The Pinkheaded Duck [''Rhodonessa caryophyllacea'' (Latham)] again| journal= J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.| volume=63|issue=2|page=440|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47950785}}</ref> and from near [[Shimla]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Mehta, K. L. |year=1960|title=A Pinkheaded Duck [Rhodonessa caryophyllacea (Latham)] at last?|journal= J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.|volume=57|issue=2|page=417}}</ref> [[Sidney Dillon Ripley]] considered it likely extinct in 1950.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Ripley, S. Dillon |year=1950|title= Two birds about which more information is needed| journal= J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. |volume=49|issue=1|pages=119–120|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48181533}}</ref>
[[File:PinkheadedDuckJerdon.jpg|thumb|An 1847 illustration]]
In 1988, [[Rory Nugent]], an American birder, and Shankar Barua of [[Delhi]], reported spotting the elusive bird on the banks of the [[Brahmaputra]]. The pair started their quest for the bird at Saikhoa ghat on the north-eastern end of the river on the Indian side of the border. After 29 days of sailing, Nugent said that he saw the pink-headed duck amidst a flock of other waterbirds. However, Nugent and Barua's claimed sighting<ref>{{cite book|author=Nugent, Rory|year=1991|title=The search for the Pink-headed Duck|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston|isbn=0-395-50552-6|url=https://archive.org/details/searchforpinkhea00nuge}}</ref> has not been widely accepted. Reports of pink-headed ducks after the 1960s have been received from the largely unexplored [[Mali Hka]] and [[Chindwin Myit]] drainages in Northern Myanmar. While the area is not very well surveyed by scientists, searches have been inconclusive and confusion with the [[red-crested pochard]] and the [[Indian spot-billed duck]] has been a common source of supposed pink-headed duck sightings. A report on a survey in the [[Hu Kaung]] valley in November 2003<ref name=nguyen>{{cite journal|editor=Nguyen, Thi Ngoc Ha |year=2003| title= Pink-headed Duck survey in the Hukaung Valley, Myanmar|journal=[[Babbler (journal)|Babbler]]| volume=8| pages=6–7| url=http://birdlifeindochina.org/birdlife/report_pdfs/babbler_8.pdf}}</ref> concluded that there is sufficient reason to believe that pink-headed ducks may still exist in Northern Myanmar's [[Kachin State]], but a thorough survey of the [[Nat Kaung]] river between [[Kamaing]] and [[Shadusup]] in October 2005 failed to find this species;<ref>{{cite journal|editor = Hanh, Dang Nguyen Hong |year=2005| title= Latest search fails to locate Pink-headed Duck |journal= Babbler| volume=16|pages=21–22| url=http://birdlifeindochina.org/birdlife/report_pdfs/babbler_16.pdf}}</ref> a number of interesting ducks were observed, but they turned out to be [[Indian spot-billed duck]]s or [[white-winged duck]]s.<ref name=nguyen /> Suggestions have been made that it may be nocturnal.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The historical and current status of Pink-headed Duck ''Rhodonessa caryophyllacea'' in Myanmar|first1=Andrew W.|last1=Tordoff|first2=T. |last2=Appleton|first3=J. C. |last3=Eames|first4= K. |last4=Eberhardt|first5=Htin |last5=Hla|author6=Khin Ma Ma Thwin|author7=Sawo Myow Zaw|first8=Saw |last8=Moses |author9= Sein Myo Aung| doi=10.1017/S0959270908000063|journal=Bird Conservation International|year=2008|volume=18|pages=38–52|doi-access=free}}</ref>

In 2017, an expedition to find the species by Global Wildlife Conservation also failed, with evidence indicating that the biodiversity in the general area around [[Indawgyi Lake]] and its surrounding areas was heavily declining due to habitat degradation. Anecdotes from residents in the area, however, indicate that the bird may have lived in the area far more recently than the last confirmed report from 1910, possibly as recently as 2010. One resident stated that a pink-headed duck was sighted in 1998, associating with a flock of [[gadwall]] and [[Northern pintail|pintail]].  Another, more dubious report stated that shortly after a failed expedition in the area by [[BirdLife International|Birdlife International]] ended, a local hunter caught a live male and a female or juvenile pink-headed duck, and contacted Myanmar's Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association to sell it to them for a fee. The offer was declined, and the hunter killed both ducks. Another hunter recalled that when the habitat was in good condition, pink-headed ducks were regulars in the area, possibly up to 2014. They were apparently most common during February, and he also could mimic their possible calls, though it is unknown whether these calls were truly by pink-headed ducks. The hunter also said that there were large, impassable ponds in the wetland's center that may still hold pink-headed ducks, but these could only be accessed with a drone, which are banned in the region.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@LostSpecies/pink-headed-duck-expedition-report-myanmar-2017-d720c9d1b89c|title=Pink-headed Duck Expedition Report: Myanmar 2017|last=Species|first=Lost|date=2017-12-08|website=Lost Species|access-date=2017-12-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@LostSpecies/search-for-the-pink-headed-duck-the-interviews-b576a942e553|title=Search for the Pink-headed Duck: The Interviews|last=Species|first=Lost|date=2017-12-08|website=Lost Species|access-date=2017-12-15}}</ref>

The reason for its disappearance was probably habitat destruction. It is not known why it was always considered rare, but the rarity is believed to be genuine (and not an artefact of insufficient fieldwork) as its erstwhile habitat was frequently scoured by hunters in Colonial times. The pink-headed duck was much sought after by hunters and later as an ornamental bird, mainly because of its unusual plumage. Like most diving ducks, it was not considered good eating, which should facilitate the survival of any remnant birds. The last specimen was obtained in 1935 in [[Darbhanga]] by [[Charles M. Inglis|C. M. Inglis]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Inglis|first=C.M.|date=1940|title=Records of some rare, or uncommon, geese and ducks and other water birds and waders in North Bihar|url=https://archive.org/details/journal-bengal-nhs-15-2-56-60|journal=Journal of the Bengal Natural History Society|volume=15|issue=2|pages=56–60|via=}}</ref> Some birds were also kept in the aviaries of [[Jean Théodore Delacour]] in [[Clères]] ([[France]]) and [[Alfred Ezra]] at [[Foxwarren Park]] ([[England]]) where the last known birds lived in captivity. The only known photographs of the species were taken here and include one of a pair taken around 1925 by [[David Seth-Smith]].<ref name=swainson>{{cite journal|first=Alfred|last=Ezra|title=The Pink-headed Duck ''Rhodonessa caryophyllacea''|journal=The Avicultural Magazine|volume=4|issue=12| year=1926 |page=24 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/252703#page/434/mode/1up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|page=148|title=New Worlds, New Animals|author1=Hoage, R. J. |author2=Deiss, William A. |year=1996| publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=0-8018-5373-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/animalsinmenager00swai#page/277/mode/1up/|pages=277–278|title=The cabinet cyclopaedia. Animals in menageries|author=Swainson, W.|year=1838| publisher=Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longmans, and John Taylor|location= London}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/revisedlistofver00zooluoft#page/n38/mode/1up/|page=29|title=Revised list of the vertebrated animals now or lately living in the gardens of the Zoological Society| author=Anonymous|year=1875|publisher=Zoological Society of London}}</ref>