2021 01 30 Ruddy Shelduck pair at Keoladeo, Rajasthan, India🦆

Photo: Original: Rohit Sharma, this edit: MPF · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesAnseriformesAnatidae
Birds

🦆Ruddy Shelduck

Tadorna ferruginea (Pallas, 1764)

The ruddy shelduck is a bird species in the family Anatidae. It is a distinctive waterfowl, 58 to 70 cm in length with a wingspan of 110 to 135 cm. It has orange-brown body plumage with a paler head, while the tail and the flight feathers in the wings are black, contrasting with the white wing-coverts. It is a migratory bird, wintering in the Indian subcontinent and breeding in southeastern Europe and central Asia, though there are small resident populations in North Africa. It has a loud honking call.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
2
Measurements
9
vs you
≈ 1/50th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2025.

Population trendIncreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
1.24 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
not recorded
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Ruddy Shelduck

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
1.24 kg
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

By sex

  • Female1.1 kgWikidataQ170723
  • Male1.36 kgWikidataQ170723
Tail length
0.12 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.36 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.05 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.05 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Trophic level
Omnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Wetland
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Terrestrial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
1.2 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Ruddy Shelduck yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force, maximum lifespan.

More

More about the Ruddy Shelduck

Closest relative on this site
🦆 Common Shelduck — last shared an ancestor ≈ 2.1 million years ago.
In other languages
Kazarka rdzawa (pl), Tadorne casarca (fr), Tarro canelo (es), vörös ásólúd (hu), Tadorna ferruginea (it), Rostgans (de) … and 27 more languages
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