Editing Common shelduck

{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
|name = Common shelduck
|image = Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) at Sylvan Heights.jpg
|image_caption = Breeding male
|image2 = Tadorna tadorna (aka).jpg
|image2_caption = Adult female [[File:Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) (W1CDR0001430 BD7).ogg|thumb|center| Bird song recorded in England]]
|status = LC
|status_system = IUCN3.1
|status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2019 |title=''Tadorna tadorna'' |volume=2019 |page=e.T22680024A154560262 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T22680024A154560262.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>
|genus = Tadorna
|species = tadorna
|authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])
|range_map = TadornaTadornaIUCN.png 
|range_map_caption = Range of ''T. tadorna'' (Compiled by BirdLife International and Handbook of the Birds of the World (2019) 2019.){{leftlegend|#00FF00|Breeding|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#008000|Resident|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#007FFF|Non-breeding|outline=gray}}
|synonyms = ''Anas tadorna'' {{small|Linnaeus,&nbsp;1758}}
}}

The '''common shelduck''' ('''''Tadorna tadorna''''') is a [[waterfowl]] [[species]] of the shelduck [[genus]], ''[[shelduck|Tadorna]]''. It is widespread and common in the [[Euro-Siberian region]] of the [[Palearctic realm|Palearctic]], mainly breeding in temperate and wintering in subtropical regions; in winter, it can also be found in the [[Maghreb]].

[[Fossil]] bones from [[Dorkovo]] ([[Bulgaria]]) described as '''''Balcanas pliocaenica''''' may actually belong to this species. More likely, they are an extinct species of ''[[Tadorna]]'' (if not a distinct genus) due to their [[Early Pliocene]] age; the present species is not unequivocally attested from the fossil record until some 2–3 million years later ([[Late Pliocene]]/[[Early Pleistocene]]).

==Taxonomy==
The common shelduck was [[Species description|formally named]] by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in 1758 in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' under the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Anas tadorna''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=122 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727027 }}</ref> Linnaeus largely based his description on "The Sheldrake or Burrough-Duck" that had been described and illustrated in 1731 by the English naturalist [[Eleazar Albin]].<ref>{{ cite book | last1=Albin | first1=Eleazar | author1-link=Eleazar Albin | last2=Derham | first2=William | author2-link=William Derham | year=1731 | title=A Natural History of Birds : Illustrated with a Hundred and One Copper Plates, Curiously Engraven from the Life | volume=1 | page=90, Plate 94 | location=London | publisher=Printed for the author and sold by William Innys | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41130512 }}</ref><ref name=mayr>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=451 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16109091 }}</ref> The specific epithet comes from the French word ''Tadorne'' for this species,<ref name= job90>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 |page = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n377 377]}}</ref> a name that was used by the French naturalist [[Pierre Belon]] in 1555.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Belon | first=Pierre | author-link=Pierre Belon | date=1555 | title=L'histoire de la natvre des oyseavx : avec levrs descriptions, & naïfs portraicts retirez du natvrel, escrite en sept livres | language=French | location=Paris | publisher=Gilles Corrozet | pages=172–173 | url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008413490/page/n203/mode/2up }}</ref> It may originally derive from Celtic roots meaning "pied waterfowl", essentially the same as the [[English language|English]] "shelduck".<ref name=Kear2/> Linnaeus specified the [[type locality (biology)|locality]] as Europe but restricted this to Sweden in 1761.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1761 | title= Fauna svecica : sistens animalia sveciae regni: mammalia, aves, amphibia, pisces, insecta, vermes, distributa per classes & ordines, genera & species, cum differentiis specierum, synonymis auctorum, nominibus incolarum, locis natalium, descriptionibus insectorum | edition=2nd | language=Latin | location=Stockholmiae | publisher=Sumtu & Literis Direct. Laurentii Salvii | page=40 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32170509 }}</ref><ref name=mayr/> The common shelduck is now placed in the [[genus]] ''[[Tadorna]]'' that was introduced in 1822 by the German zoologist [[Friedrich Boie]].<ref>{{ cite book | last=Boie | first=Friedrich | author-link=Friedrich Boie | year=1822 | title=Tagebuch gehalten auf einer Reise durch Norwegen im Jahre 1817 | language=German | location=Schleswig | publisher=Königl Taubstummen - Institut | pages=140, 351 | url=https://archive.org/details/tagebuchgehalten00boie/page/140/mode/1up }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=January 2021 | title=Screamers, ducks, geese & swans | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.1 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/waterfowl/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=11 June 2021 }}</ref> The species is [[monotypic]]: no [[subspecies]] are recognised.<ref name=ioc/>

==Description==
The common shelduck resembles a small short-necked goose in size and shape. It is a striking bird, with a reddish-pink bill, pink feet, a white body with chestnut patches and a black belly, and a dark green head and neck. The wing coverts are white, the primary [[remiges]] black, and the secondaries green (only showing in flight) and chestnut. The underwings are almost entirely white. Sexes are similar, but the female is smaller, with some white facial markings, while the male is particularly crisply coloured in the breeding season, his bill bright red and bearing a prominent knob at the forehead.

[[Duckling]]s are white, with black cap, hindneck and wing and back patches. Juveniles are similarly coloured, greyish above and mostly white below, but already have the adult's wing pattern.

The call is a loud honk.

<gallery mode = packed heights = 180px>
500px photo (31688843).jpeg|male
Common shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) female in flight Sfax.jpg|female
</gallery>

==Distribution and habitat==
This is a [[bird]] which breeds in temperate [[Palearctic|Eurosiberia]]. Most populations [[bird migration|migrate]] to subtropical areas in winter, but this species is largely resident in westernmost [[Europe]], apart from movements to favoured moulting grounds, such as the [[Wadden Sea]] on the north [[Germany|German]] coast.

The common shelduck is common around the coastline of [[Great Britain]] and [[Ireland]] (where it is known simply as the shelduck), where it frequents salt marshes and estuaries. It frequently nests in rabbit burrows. Sightings of this bird are rare in North America and are reported as infrequent visitors to the U.S. and Canada.<ref name=NARBA/> It has also been recorded in the Caribbean, mostly in Barbados.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-11-18 |title=ML69184861 - Common Shelduck - Macaulay Library |url=https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/69184861 |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=macaulaylibrary.org}}</ref> In South America, a record of the species exists in Colombia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=de Schauensee |first=Rodolphe Meyer |date=1959 |title=Additions to the "Birds of the Republic of Colombia" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4064506 |journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |volume=111 |pages=53–75 |issn=0097-3157}}</ref>

==Behaviour==
Moulting flocks can be very large (100,000 on the [[Wadden Sea]]), since most pairs leave their partially grown young in a crèche with just one or two adults.

This species is mainly associated with lakes and rivers in open country, [[breeding in the wild|breeding]] in [[rabbit]] burrows, tree holes, haystacks or similar. In winter it is common on suitable estuaries and tidal mudflats as well.

This bird is one of the species to which the ''Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds'' ([[AEWA]]) applies.

The young will dive under water to avoid predators and the adults will fly away from them to act as a decoy.

<gallery>

File:Tadorna tadorna (Linnaeus, 1758).jpg|A female ruffles up her feathers.
File:Brandgans gründelnd.JPG|Adults upending, note underside and feet colors
File:Common shelduck, male, female (Tadorna tadorna).jpg|Common shelduck, male and female together on the island of Amrum, Germany
File:Shelduck mating.jpg|Adults mating in [[Lancashire]] (UK) (male right), note size difference
File:Diorama Brandgänse.JPG|Nesting site [[diorama]], [[Küstenmuseum]] [[Juist]] (Germany)
File:Brandgans Küken, Borkum.JPG|Ducklings on [[Borkum]] (Germany)
File:Tadorna tadorna MWNH 1969.JPG|Egg, Collection [[Museum Wiesbaden]]
File:Gravand (tadorna tadorna) - Ystad-2020.jpg|Female and two half-grown ducklings.
File:Gravand (Tadorna tadorna) - Ystad-2022.jpg|Female with one week old ducklings.
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=Kear2>{{cite book|last=Kear|first=Janet|title=Ducks, Geese, and Swans|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2005|page=420|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MfrdBcKd79wC&q=crested+shelduck&pg=RA1-PA439|isbn=0-19-861008-4}}</ref>
<ref name=NARBA>{{cite web|url=http://www.narba.org/default.aspx/MenuItemID/104/MenuGroup/Home.htm |title=NARBA North American Rare Bird Alert |url-access=registration  |access-date=January 17, 2011 |archive-date=January 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110118224253/http://www.narba.org/default.aspx/MenuItemID/104/MenuGroup/Home.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Tadorna tadorna}}
{{Wikispecies|Tadorna tadorna}}
*[http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/s/shelduck/index.asp RSPB Birds by Name]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20161108183510/http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/71_ShelduckTtadorna.pdf Ageing and sexing (PDF; 1.2 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130501110829/http://www.irandeserts.com/content/%D8%AF%D8%B1%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%87_%DA%A9%D9%88%DB%8C%D8%B1/%D9%BE%D9%88%D8%B4%D8%B4_%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D8%B1%DB%8C/%D9%BE%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86/%D9%BE%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%AF%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87_%D8%BA%D8%A7%D8%B2_%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86/%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%AC%D9%87.htm Range map in Iran]
*{{BirdLife|22680024|Tadorna tadorna}}
*{{Avibase|1365719670879|Tadorna tadorna}}
*{{InternetBirdCollection|common-shelduck-tadorna-tadorna}}
*{{VIREO|Common+shelduck}}
*{{IUCN_Map|22680024/166197940|Tadorna tadorna}}
*{{Xeno-canto species|Tadorna|tadorna|Common shelduck}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q25761}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Tadorna]]
[[Category:Birds of Asia]]
[[Category:Birds of Europe]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1758|Common shelduck]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus|Common shelduck]]