Common Pochard

Aythya ferina

Other Names

  Northern Pochard, European Pochard, Eurasian Pochard, Pochard   Fuligule milouin, Milouin d'Europe   Tafelente   Porrón Europeo   Brunand   Tafeleend   Moriglione, Moriglione europeo

World: North of the equator from Iceland and western Europe to central Asia and sw Siberia and western Yakutia. South of this the range covers Spain and then east through France, Tunisia the Balkans to Kazakhstan and ne China. Winters farther south in the tropics.

Kenya: Rare palearctic migrant which occasionally wanders south of its normal range.

A diving duck which eats seeds, roots, aquatic plants and grasses as well as invertebrates and small fish. Pochards may also be seen filtering mud on the shoreline. There have been very few recorded sightings in Kenya and the individual pictured above was photographed in the UK.