Description of the breed of ducks Krokhal
The breed of wild ducks Krokhal has become widespread in Russia and the CIS. Large size, decent weight and exquisite color of individuals attracts hunters of the Altai Territory, the Urals, Chita and Irkutsk regions. These special wild birds move to warm countries for the winter, occasionally you can see them on the Sea of Azov. What are the representatives of the middle zone of the Eurasian continent so famous for and why did some subspecies begin to be included in the Red Book?
Duck Krokhal
Distinctive features of the species
The Krokhal duck resembles a small goose in appearance and size. Weight ranges from 1 to 2 kg, body length reaches 65 cm, and the wingspan is close to a meter (87-92 cm). Birds of this species are family, capable of fighting back when meeting with a small predator. In the cold season, they can huddle in large flocks to ensure their survival.
Having studied the photo of a bird on the Internet, it is easy to notice the following distinctive features:
- On the wings there is a special white "mirror", which is very clearly visible against the background of the gray wing, which distinguishes these birds from all others.
- The males have a black head and top of the neck that shine with a green sheen with a metallic effect in bright sunlight. The back is black, and closer to the tail it is grayish. The rest of the body is white with a pink tint. Important: drakes change their color, because this is their secondary sex characteristic, which allows them to get the opportunity to reproduce.
- Females are easily distinguished by their red or brownish head and neck. The throat of females is white, and the back is ashy with gray.
- The beak of the merganser is bright red, at the end it is bent into a hook.
- The duck has a remarkable crest on its head.
It is worth noting that the long-nosed merganser and the big merganser differ from all representatives. Their color directly depends on the season. In the spring it becomes brighter in comparison with the winter (this is how nature laid it down), but over the summer the color fades and by autumn it becomes completely dull and inconspicuous. This is why it is so difficult to distinguish a female from a male in appearance during the cold season.
Waterfowl habitat
The Krokhal duck is not only a breeding bird, but also a migratory one. In summer, she likes to bask in the central zone of the Eurasian continent. In the spring, these birds are among the first to arrive, as soon as the wormwood appears. Representatives of waterfowl go to winter only with the arrival of severe cold weather, entailing freezing of water bodies.
Basically, representatives of ducks love to nest in forest areas, although clutches have been seen in crevices of mountains, and even in coastal areas. Such a vast habitat is caused by a variety of subspecies. In summer, birds fill the central regions of not only the Eurasian continent, but also North America, and in winter they move to the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and they can also be found in the south of China (mainly where there is fish).
Important: if the winter lasts relatively warm, and the fast sections of the reservoir are not covered with a thin layer of ice, then the bird will not leave its favorite nesting place.
Waterfowl nutrition
The basis for the diet of all subspecies of duck is fish, with priority:
- Salmon.
- Pike.
- Roach.
- Grayling.
During winter, these birds can feed on herring or sea fish, and sometimes feast on beetles, worms, crayfish, even mollusks.
Sexual maturity and reproductive characteristics
The duck reaches sexual maturity by about 2 years. During courtship, the male constantly swims behind the female, pressing his chest to the water. To attract the attention of his beloved, he has to sharply raise the body above the water surface, open his wings, and then take a classic pose, making a loud sound. Such games look pretty impressive from the outside. By the way, sometimes just such moments are captured in photos and videos by tourists.
As a rule, a duck in one clutch can bring up to 12 eggs to the nest and incubate them for about one month. After the birth of the ducklings, they stay in a warm place for a maximum of two days. They hatch immediately pubescent and already at the first exit they follow their mother to the water and even try to dive. For the first week, babies feed mainly on insects that are on the surface of the water, but after a week they begin to catch fry, moving through the water, almost like an adult.
Approximately after 3 months, the ducklings begin to fly fully, but if the ducks are sedentary, the ducklings will fly when they reach the age of 80 days, and migratory ones - after 50.
Important: under favorable conditions, the duck lives up to 15 years, with a sedentary lifestyle, the period can reach 17 years.
Subspecies of Mergansers
In nature, you can meet four varieties of the considered waterfowl ducks:
- large merganser;
- long-nosed merganser;
- scaly merganser;
- smew.
In the photo, they will all look very disheveled due to the peculiarities of their breed.
Most often you can see a representative of the breed, whose name is a large merganser. It has a rather large weight (up to 2 kg in winter). Perhaps this makes it the most interesting hunting object. The great merganser lives mainly in quiet lakes and rivers located near the northern taiga.
As mentioned earlier, there are other representatives of the species of merganser ducks in nature. For example, a medium or long-nosed merganser (it has the longest and sharpest beak and a shorter body length, which distinguishes it from congeners). This species lives mainly in the tundra and forests of Eurasia. It is often confused with such a subspecies as the scaly merganser.
Scaly merganser is found mainly in the Far East and China. There are very few representatives left, about 1.5 thousand couples. This was the reason for the entry into the Red Book.
Among the family of ducks, I would like to note one more specimen - Lutok. It has the smallest size among the other representatives of the merganser ducks. It is important that this subspecies lives mainly among thickets and trees.
Interesting representatives of waterfowl ducks were crumbling, because they are picky about food, can easily find a place for nesting and do an excellent job with raising offspring. The scaled merganser is listed in the Red Book, and therefore hunting for it is prohibited.