# Ferruginous duck (*Aythya nyroca*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/ferruginous-duck  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

The ferruginous duck (Aythya nyroca), also called the White-eyed pochard, is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup, belonging to the family Anatidae and the order Anseriformes. It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 574 g, ranging from 520 to 586 g, and a wingspan of 65 cm. This migratory, aquatic herbivore lives in wetland habitat across a geographic range of 6,828,000 km². The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Near Threatened, which is not a threatened category.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 520 g – 586 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Wingspan | 63 cm – 67 cm |
| Lifespan | 8.71 years |
| Diet | Herbivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 9 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | wetland |
| Egg incubation | 26 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 9 |
| Age at maturity | 11.9 months |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Lifestyle | Aquatic |
| Migration | Migratory |
| Conservation status | Near Threatened (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Anseriformes
- family: Anatidae
- genus: Aythya
- species: *Aythya nyroca* (Güldenstädt, 1770)

Synonyms: *Anas nyroca*, *Anas rufa*, *Aythya nyroca nyroca*, *Nyroca ferruginea*, *Nyroca leucophthalma*, *Nyroca nyroca*, *Nyroca rufa*

## Common questions

### What kind of animal is the ferruginous duck?

The ferruginous duck is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup. It belongs to the family Anatidae in the order Anseriformes.

### How heavy is the ferruginous duck?

An adult Ferruginous duck weighs 574 g, with reported values from 520 to 586 g. Its wingspan is 65 cm.

### What does the ferruginous duck eat?

The ferruginous duck is a herbivore.

### What habitat does the ferruginous duck live in?

The ferruginous duck lives in wetland habitat and has an aquatic lifestyle. It is migratory.

### Is the ferruginous duck endangered?

No. The IUCN Red List assesses the ferruginous duck globally as Near Threatened, which is not a threatened category.

### How long does the ferruginous duck live?

The ferruginous duck has a lifespan of 8.7 years, with values up to 9 years reported by sources.

### How many eggs does the ferruginous duck lay?

The ferruginous duck lays 9 eggs per clutch and has 1 clutch per year. The eggs are incubated for 26 days.

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), CC BY 4.0, v7. Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org), per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed), 2026-11-11. Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), CC BY-SA 4.0, 2026-11-11. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

Cite as: Ferruginous duck (Aythya nyroca). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/ferruginous-duck