Crested Shelduck Tadorna cristata Scientific name definitions

60–63 cm. A largely dark-plumaged shelduck. Male has greyish-white face and neck, black breast and collar, greyish-brown mantle, wing-coverts and underparts, and dull orange undertail-coverts. Female similar, but has white face, ‘spectacles’ and breast, rather uniform brownish-grey upperparts, whitish-buff barring to lower foreneck and belly, and white underwing-coverts, contrasting with otherwise dark underwings. Both sexes have waxy red bill, dark brown eyes and orange legs and feet.

Known from few records in Russian Far East (Primorye), Japan (single 19th-century record from Hokkaido) and South Korea. Last acceptable record from 1964 (islands S of Vladivostok, Russia); unconfirmed sightings in NE China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Hebei) (2 BirdLife International (2013). IUCN Red List for birds. URL: http://www.birdlife.org (download Aug 2013). Close ).

Considered to be resident, performing at most short-range, local movements (when forms small flocks), e.g. moving to the coast outside the breeding season.

No data, but it has been suggested that the species feeds at night and is exclusively vegetarian (based on its bill structure), taking grass and other vegetable matter (3 Collar, N. J., A. V. Andreev, S. Chan, M. J. Crosby, S. Subramanya, and J. A. Tobias, Editors (2001). Threatened Birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK. Close ).

No concrete information, although it has been suggested that the species breeds in tree-holes, perhaps in May–Jul, presumably with the female being uniquely responsible for incubation duties, with a clutch size not exceeding ten eggs (3 Collar, N. J., A. V. Andreev, S. Chan, M. J. Crosby, S. Subramanya, and J. A. Tobias, Editors (2001). Threatened Birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK. Close ).

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. Considered to be possibly Extinct by BirdLife International, given lack of any confirmed modern-day sightings for what is a relatively large and attractively-plumaged species with a range that is increasingly visited by ornithologists and birdwatchers; maximum estimate of population size is < 50 individuals, and it has been suggested that the best place to search for the species’ breeding grounds is on streams within the Changbai Shan and Da Hinggan Ling (Greater Xingan Mts) in NE China (3 Collar, N. J., A. V. Andreev, S. Chan, M. J. Crosby, S. Subramanya, and J. A. Tobias, Editors (2001). Threatened Birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK. Close ). Originally considered to be possibly a hybrid between T. ferruginea and Mareca falcata, BirdLife considers that the species is known from just five confirmed records ever, two in Russia, two in South Korea, and one in Japan, indicating that T. cristata has been rare for at least c. 300 years (3 Collar, N. J., A. V. Andreev, S. Chan, M. J. Crosby, S. Subramanya, and J. A. Tobias, Editors (2001). Threatened Birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK. Close ). Earliest extant specimen dates from Apr 1877, collected in Russia (although drawings of a pair taken on Hokkaido in Oct 1822—the only Japanese record—exist), the last in Dec 1916 (from South Korea) (3 Collar, N. J., A. V. Andreev, S. Chan, M. J. Crosby, S. Subramanya, and J. A. Tobias, Editors (2001). Threatened Birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK. Close ), with the last reliable observation (involving one male and two females) on islands S of Vladivostock, Far Eastern Russia, in mid-May 1964, with a sighting of two males and four females claimed from North Korea in Mar 1971 (however, serious reservations have recently been expressed about the reliability of this record), and further unsubstantiated reports emanated from NE China (Heilongjiang in Apr 1983 and May 1987; Jilin in 1984, Apr 1986 and spring 1988; Liaoning in Oct 1976; and Hebei in May 1930 and 1936, based on birds reportedly collected but not preserved as specimens) (3 Collar, N. J., A. V. Andreev, S. Chan, M. J. Crosby, S. Subramanya, and J. A. Tobias, Editors (2001). Threatened Birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK. Close ), with one (involving up to 20 birds) from Yunnan, S China, in 1990 (the latter considered to be presumably a misidentification, probably of T. ferruginea) (3 Collar, N. J., A. V. Andreev, S. Chan, M. J. Crosby, S. Subramanya, and J. A. Tobias, Editors (2001). Threatened Birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK. Close ). In 1983, three million leaflets on this species were distributed in Russia, Japan, China, South Korea and North Korea (i.e. throughout the species’ known range), but there was little response, with the sole result being the reporting of the single unconfirmed record in North Korea. A new investigation was made in China during 1986–1990, via a publicity campaign and the distribution of 15,000 leaflets through 25 provinces and autonomous regions; this generated 82 responses, but no confirmed records.