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Ruddy Shelducks are medium-sized ducks with a long neck. Both sexes have roughly the same plumage, with small differences. Males in breeding plumage have a black neck-ring which they lose during the winter. Females lack the black neck-ring, the green wing panels and they have a more pronounced white facial mask. Male Ruddy Shelducks are also slightly larger than females. Otherwise the two sexes are basically identical. The head and upper neck are pale-brown with some white blotches on the head, while the lower neck and the front/underparts are brown to rust-coloured. In males the upperparts are similarly coloured, while the mantle of females show pale-brown edge lining. Both upperwing and underwing coverts are white, while the flight feathers are black (only males have a green panel at the back of the upperwing). The tail is dark-grey. The irises are dark. The slightly upcurved spatula bill is dark-grey, as are the legs and feet. Juveniles have body plumage resembling that of females, but the head and neck are more similar to non-breeding males.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Ruddy Shelduck is available HERE .

Common Shelducks are a partly sedentary, partly migratory species. Apart from a small sedentary population in north-western Africa, they occur from the Aegean Sea eastwards, through parts of far south-eastern Europe, parts of Asia Minor, the Middle East and further east to the Pacific coastline, with occasional sightings in Japan. Their range includes the Indian subcontinent and much of south-eastern Asia.

Except for one location on the coastline of Greece, in Europe Ruddy Shelducks are normally found only as breeding migrants to the far South-east, from the Danube delta via the North coast of the Black Sea to the lower Dnjepr and the northern Caucasus.

Outside the breeding season Shelducks live mostly in inland wetlands, such as lakes, swamps, water storage dams and saltmarshes. During the breeding season their choice of habitat is much more diverse, including not only wetlands, but also rocky mountainous terrain, where they nest on cliffs, banks, in crevices, trees or also in ruins.

H. Dahlem-Senger reports finding a pair of Ruddy Shelducks along the shore of Lake Constance, at Unteruhldingen, Germany, in September 2022. At this location the species is introduced.

More photos shown below were taken by D. Wilczynska in Georgia, on the southern slopes of the Caucasus, in June 2018. This location is just outside the geographical boundaries of Europe.