Species › Birds

Common Pochard

Aythya ferina

Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Presence in the Strait: Seasonal
Abundance: common
IUCN (global): VU · Vulnerable
In Spanish: Porrón europeo

Photograph: Andrew Bazdyrev, CC BY, vía iNaturalist

Length: 42–49 cm
Wingspan: 72–82 cm
Weight: 875–975 g

Presence in the Strait

Common winter visitor to lagoons and reservoirs (<400). Since 1995 a pair has been breeding at Las Lomas.

Identification

Male is unmistakable. Female shows contrast of brownish head and breast with greyish body.

Movements

The first arrive in September and leave in the middle of March, with postnuptial migration peaks in 1st hf. November and prenuptial peaks between the end of February and 1st hf. March.

Ring recoveries

Spain: 24 birds from Huelva and Seville.

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

17 %

Peak in October. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 27 November 1982
Latest record: 24 December 2024

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Not included
Spanish Catalogue: Not included
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: NT · Near threatened · breeding — EN · Endangered · wintering or migrating
Global Red List (IUCN): VU · Vulnerable

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Same genus in the Strait

Tufted Duck40–47 cm · Seasonal · overlapping size
Ferruginous Duck38–42 cm · Occasional · overlapping size

Species of the same genus that also occur here, ordered by how close they are in size. Being relatives does not mean they are confused in the field, but that is where the doubts start: compare size and season.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
GBIF taxon key: 2498255

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Andrew Bazdyrev, CC BY, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Common Pochard

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Movements

Ring recoveries

Gallery