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White-headed Ducks are small diving ducks. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. In addition, males have different breeding and eclipse Male White-headed Ducks in breeding plumage have a mostly chestnut body, with dark neck and dark wiry tail feathers. The head is mostly white, with a black cap and a narrow black stripe behind each eye. Their most prominent feature during the breeding season is the blue bill, of which the upper mandible is bulbous (reminiscent of the shields of some species of waterhens). In eclipse the body is greyish-brown and the bill is also grey, rather than blue. The black cap becomes wider and more prominent, reaching the eyes on both sides. Males often cock their tails into an upright position. Females have a more inconspicuous plumage. They resemble males in eclipse, only their heads are darker yet, with a much wider dark cap and more prominent stripes along the sides of the head. Juveniles resemble adult females so closely that they can be indistinguishable in the field.

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 White-headed Duck is available HERE .

White-headed Ducks are a partly migratory Eurasian and African species that exists mostly at northern subtropical latitudes. Their overall range extends from parts of Iberia and north-western Africa in the West to Pakistan, Afghanistan, north-western India and Mongolia in the East. While in the western Mediterranean and northern Africa they sedentary, in the eastern part of their range, from northern Greece via Asia Minor, the Levant around the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea towards central Asia, they are mostly migratory (although there are some areas where they stay all year round).

In Europe White-headed Ducks are found primarily around parts of the Mediterranean Sea. There is a sedentary western population in far southern and into central Iberia. Those found in the far South-east of Europe, around the North coast of the Black Sea towards the southern fringes of the Balkans, are migratory. There they are found either in their winter quarters or in transit from or to their breeding grounds in central Asia. Sightings northward of the Pyrenees and the Alps, which go as far as the South coast of the Baltic Sea, are probably a mix of wild birds and aviary escapes.

White-headed Ducks have a preference for

J. Pires reports finding a White-headed Duck at Ria Formosa, Faro, Algarve, Portugal, in October 2022. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by J. Pires.