Pink-headed duck
Pink-headed duck | |
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Mounted specimen at National Museum of Scotland | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Anseriformes |
Family: | Anatidae |
Genus: | Rhodonessa Reichenbach, 1853 |
Species: | R. caryophyllacea
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Binomial name | |
Rhodonessa caryophyllacea | |
Distribution of records of this species | |
Synonyms | |
Anas caryophyllacea |
The pink-headed duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea) is a large
Description
The male pink-headed duck is unmistakable when a good view is had. Both sexes are 41–43 cm and long-billed with long necks and peaked heads. The male has a pink bill, head and neck while the female has a pale pinkish head and neck with a paler bill. The black of the body extends as a narrow strip on the front of the neck. Wings have a leading white edge. In flight it would not contrast as much as the syntopic white-winged duck. Wing does not have the dark trailing edge of the
Its breeding habitat is lowland marshes and pools in tall-grass jungle.[7] The nest is built amongst grass. The eggs, six or seven in a clutch, are very spherical and creamy white.[8] The eggs measure 1.71 to 1.82 inches long and 1.61 to 1.7 inches wide.[9] They were believed to have been non-migratory and found singly or in pairs and very rarely in small groups. Pink-headed ducks are believed to have eaten water plants and molluscs.[10] Like Netta species, they typically up-ended or dabbled for food and did not dive like a pochard.[11]
Distribution
Taxonomy and systematics
The pink-headed duck was described by John Latham in 1790 under the genus Anas.[21][22] In describing the species, it is possible that he made of use of a painting in the collection of Lady Impey, wife of Sir Elijah Impey who was Chief Justice of court in Calcutta from 1774 to 1783. Mary Impey maintained a menagerie in Calcutta and commissioned Indian artists such as Bhawani Das from Patna to illustrate animals in the collection. The Impeys moved to England, and after the death of her husband, she sold these paintings at auction in 1810. Some of them were acquired by the 13th Earl of Derby.[23][24]
The genus Rhodonessa was originally created for this species alone.
A study found that Rhodonessa was closely allied to the red-crested pochard (Netta rufina) suggesting that the two species be placed in the same genus.[31] Rhodonessa was described prior to Netta which would then make Rhodonessa rufina the name of choice, however these changes have not been widely accepted.[32] The pink colour is derived from a carotenoid pigment which is unusual among ducks and known only from a few other species such as the pink-eared duck which are not closely related.[33]
Status
This
In 1988,
In 2017, an expedition to find the species by Global Wildlife Conservation also failed, with evidence indicating that the biodiversity in the general area around Indawgyi Lake and its surrounding areas was heavily declining due to habitat degradation. Anecdotes from residents in the area, however, indicate that the bird may have lived in the area far more recently than the last confirmed report from 1910, possibly as recently as 2010. One resident stated that a pink-headed duck was sighted in 1998, associating with a flock of gadwall and pintail. Another, more dubious report stated that shortly after a failed expedition in the area by Birdlife International ended, a local hunter caught a live male and a female or juvenile pink-headed duck, and contacted Myanmar's Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association to sell it to them for a fee. The offer was declined, and the hunter killed both ducks. Another hunter recalled that when the habitat was in good condition, pink-headed ducks were regulars in the area, possibly up to 2014. They were apparently most common during February, and he also could mimic their possible calls, though it is unknown whether these calls were truly by pink-headed ducks. The hunter also said that there were large, impassable ponds in the wetland's center that may still hold pink-headed ducks, but these could only be accessed with a drone, which are banned in the region.[44][45]
The reason for its disappearance was probably habitat destruction. It is not known why it was always considered rare, but the rarity is believed to be genuine (and not an artefact of insufficient fieldwork) as its erstwhile habitat was frequently scoured by hunters in Colonial times. The pink-headed duck was much sought after by hunters and later as an ornamental bird, mainly because of its unusual plumage. Like most diving ducks, it was not considered good eating, which should facilitate the survival of any remnant birds. The last specimen was obtained in 1935 in Darbhanga, Andhra Pradesh, India by C. M. Inglis.[46] Some birds were also kept in the aviaries of Jean Théodore Delacour in Clères (France) and Alfred Ezra at Foxwarren Park (England) where the last known birds lived in captivity. The only known photographs of the species were taken here and include one of a pair taken around 1925 by David Seth-Smith.[22][47][48][49]
References
- ^ . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
- ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Latham, John (1790). Index ornithologicus, sive Systema Ornithologiae; complectens avium divisionem in classes, ordines, genera, species, ipsarumque varietates: adjectis synonymis, locis, descriptionibus, &c. London: Leigh & Sotheby.
- .
- ^ Rasmussen, P. C.; Anderton, J. C. (2005). Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Vol. 2. Smithsonian Institution & Lynx Editions. p. 78.
- ^ Phillips, John C. (1922). A natural history of the ducks. Vol. 1. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. pp. 90–93.
- ISBN 0-19-562063-1.
- ^ Barnes, H. E. (1891). "Nesting in western India". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 6 (3): 285–317.
- ^ Oates, Eugene W. (1902). Catalogue of the collections of birds' eggs in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. II. London: British Museum. p. 143.
- ^ a b Baker, E. C. S. (1897). "Indian ducks and their allies. Part II". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 11 (2): 171–198.
- ^ a b Humphrey, P. S.; Ripley, S. D. (1962). "The affinities of the Pink-headed Duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea)". Postilla. 61: 1–21.
- ^ Inglis, C. M. (1904). "The birds of the Madhubani subdivision of the Darbhanga district, Tirhut, with notes on species noted elsewhere in the district. Part VIII". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 16 (1): 70–75.
- ^ Hume, Allan (1888). "The Birds of Manipur, Assam, Sylhet and Cachar". Stray Feathers. 11: 1–353.
- ^ Marshall, A. H. (1918). "Occurrence of the Pinkheaded Duck Rhodonessa caryophyllacea in the Punjab". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 25 (3): 502–503.
- ^ Ara, Jamal (1960). "In search of the Pinkheaded Duck [Rhodonessa caryophyllacea (Latham)]". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 57 (2): 415–417.
- .
- ^ Reid, Geo (1879). Hume, Allan (ed.). "[Letter to on specimen of Pink-headed Duck in Lucknow Museum]". Stray Feathers. 8: 418.
- ^ Hume, A. O.; Marshall, C. H. T. (1881). Game birds of India, Burmah and Ceylon. Vol. 3. Self-published. pp. 173–180.
- .
- ^ Jerdon, T. C. (1864). The game birds and wild fowl of India. Calcutta: Military Orphan Press. pp. 176–177.
- ^ Stephens, J. F. (1824). General Zoology. Volume 12 part 2. Aves. pp. 207–208.
- ^ a b Ezra, Alfred (1926). "The Pink-headed Duck Rhodonessa caryophyllacea". The Avicultural Magazine. 4 (12): 24.
- ISBN 1-902700-14-7.
- ^ Fisher, C.; Kear, J. (2002). "The taxonomic importance of two early paintings of the pink-headed duck Rhodonessa caryophyllacea (Latham 1790)". Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 122 (4): 244–248.
- ^ Delacour, Jean; Mayr, Ernst (1945). "The Family Anatidae". Wilson Bull. 57: 3–55.
- ^ Garrod, Alfred Henry (1875). "On the form of the lower larynx in certain species of ducks". Proc. Zool. Soc. London: 151–156.
- ^ Blanford WT (1898). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Birds. Volume 4. Taylor and Francis, London. pp. 425–426.
- S2CID 35642972.
- ISBN 0-8014-0207-7.
- ^ Woolfenden, G. E. (1959). "Postcranial osteology of the waterfowl". Bull. Fla. State Mus. 6 (1): 183–187.
- JSTOR 4088937.
- ISBN 0-946888-44-2. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2010-04-30.
- S2CID 54210463.
- ^ Jardine, E. R. (1909). "Occurrence of the Pink-headed Duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea) in Burma". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 19 (1): 264.
- ^ Whistler, H. (1916). "The Pink-headed Duck Rhodonessa caryophyllacea, Lath. in the Punjab". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24 (3): 599.
- ^ Hume, A. O. (1879). "Gleanings from the Calcutta market". Stray Feathers. 7 (6): 479–498.
- ^ Singh, Laliteshwar Prasad (1966). "The Pinkheaded Duck [Rhodonessa caryophyllacea (Latham)] again". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 63 (2): 440.
- ^ Mehta, K. L. (1960). "A Pinkheaded Duck [Rhodonessa caryophyllacea (Latham)] at last?". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 57 (2): 417.
- ^ Ripley, S. Dillon (1950). "Two birds about which more information is needed". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 49 (1): 119–120.
- ISBN 0-395-50552-6.
- ^ a b Nguyen, Thi Ngoc Ha, ed. (2003). "Pink-headed Duck survey in the Hukaung Valley, Myanmar" (PDF). Babbler. 8: 6–7.
- ^ Hanh, Dang Nguyen Hong, ed. (2005). "Latest search fails to locate Pink-headed Duck" (PDF). Babbler. 16: 21–22.
- .
- ^ Species, Lost (2017-12-08). "Pink-headed Duck Expedition Report: Myanmar 2017". Lost Species. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
- ^ Species, Lost (2017-12-08). "Search for the Pink-headed Duck: The Interviews". Lost Species. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
- ^ Inglis, C.M. (1940). "Records of some rare, or uncommon, geese and ducks and other water birds and waders in North Bihar". Journal of the Bengal Natural History Society. 15 (2): 56–60.
- ISBN 0-8018-5373-7.
- ^ Swainson, W. (1838). The cabinet cyclopaedia. Animals in menageries. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longmans, and John Taylor. pp. 277–278.
- ^ Anonymous (1875). Revised list of the vertebrated animals now or lately living in the gardens of the Zoological Society. Zoological Society of London. p. 29.
Other sources
- Ali, S. (1960). "The pink-headed duck Rhodonessa caryophyllacea (Latham)". Wildfowl Trust 1lth Annual Report. pp. 54–58.
- Bucknill, JA (1924). "The disappearance of the Pink-headed Duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea Lath.)". Ibis. 66 (1): 146–151. .
- van der Ven, Joost (2007). Roze is een kleur – Zoektochten naar een eend in Myanmar 1999–2006. Utrecht: IJzer.