Red-crested pochard

Netta rufina (Pallas, 1773)

The red-crested pochard (Netta rufina) is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup, belonging to the family Anatidae in the order Anseriformes. It is a medium-sized bird with an adult body mass of 1.118 kg, ranging from 1.112 to 1.14 kg, and a wingspan of 87 cm, ranging from 84 to 90 cm.

Photo: Christian David · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the red-crested pochard

This herbivore lives an aquatic lifestyle in wetland habitat, is partially migratory and has a geographic range of 6,128,000 km². It lays one clutch of 9 eggs per year, incubates them for 27 days, reaches sexual maturity at 1 year and is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN.

Weight: 1.11 kg – 1.14 kgsrc for Weight
Length: Not recorded
Wingspan: 84 cm – 90 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan: 7.4 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Herbivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan: 8.75 years
Main food: Not recorded
Habitat: wetlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation: 27 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch: 9src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity: 12 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year: 1src for Litters or clutches a year
Reproduction: Eggssrc for Reproduction
Lifestyle: Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
Migration: Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record: Not recorded

How big is the red-crested pochard?

At 90 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the red-crested pochard is about 53% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the red-crested pochard

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Red-crested pochard (Netta rufina) — Reinhold Möller Ermell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the red-crested pochard live?

Not recorded

What is the red-crested pochard?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The red-crested pochard (Netta rufina) is a large diving duck. The scientific name is derived from Greek Netta "duck", and Latin rufina, "golden-red" (from rufus, "ruddy"). Its breeding habitat is lowland marshes and lakes in southern Europe and it extends from the steppe and semi-desert areas on the Black Sea to Central Asia and Mongolia, wintering in the Indian subcontinent and Africa. It is somewhat migratory, and northern birds winter further south into north Africa.
The adult male is unmistakable. It has a rounded orange head, red bill and black breast. The flanks are white, the back brown, and the tail black. The female is mainly a pale brown, with a darker back and crown and a whitish face. Eclipse males are like females but with red bills. They are gregarious birds, forming large flocks in winter, often mixed with other diving ducks, such as common pochards. They feed mainly by diving or dabbling. They eat aquatic plants, and typically upend for food more than most diving ducks.
A wheezing veht call can be given by the male. Series of hoarse vrah-vrah-vrah calls can also be heard from females.
Red-crested pochards build nests by the lakeside among vegetation and lay 8–12 pale green eggs. The birds' status in the British Isles is much confused because there have been many escapes and deliberate releases over the years, as well as natural visitors from the continent. However, the majority of individuals in the British Isles are the result of accidental and deliberate introductions. They are most numerous around areas of England including Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and also spotted in Leicestershire.
The red-crested pochard is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

From the Wikipedia article “Red-crested pochard” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red-crested_pochard&oldid=1322140420), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the red-crested pochard endangered?

The red-crested pochard is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

LCLeast Concern
NTNear Threatened
VUVulnerable
ENEndangered
CRCritically Endangered
EWExtinct in the Wild
EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the red-crested pochard classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classAves
orderAnseriformes
familyAnatidae
genusNetta
SpeciesNetta rufina (Pallas, 1773)

Synonyms Anas rufina, Aythya rufina, Branta rufina, Callichen micropus, Callichen rufescens, Callichen ruficeps, Callichen rufinus, Callichen subrufinus, Fuligula rufina, Mergoides rufina, Platypus rufinus, Rhodonessa rufina

Other names and names in other languages (98)

ونسArabic
بط أحمر العرفArabic
بطة حمراء القنةArabic
Aneda royaAragonese
Coríu RoxuAsturian
coríu bermeyuAsturian
Qırmızıburun dalğıcAzerbaijani
Нырок чырвананосыBelarusian
Чырвананосы нырокBelarusian
Червеноклюна потапницаBulgarian
Червеноклюни потапнициBulgarian
রাঙ্গামুড়িBangla
Penndog ruzBreton
XibecCatalan
xibec comúCatalan
Хӗрлӗ сӑмсаллӑ улачаChuvash
zrzohlávka rudozobáCzech
Hwyaden bengochWelsh
hwyaden gribgochWelsh
Hwyaid CribgochWelsh
rødhovedet andDanish
KolbenenteGerman
ΦερεντίνιGreek
ΚοτσινοτζέφαληGreek
Ευρασιατικό ΦερεντίνιGreek
ruĝkapa anasoEsperanto
Pato coloradoSpanish
punanokk-vartEstonian
Ahate gorriztaBasque
اردک تاجدارPersian
punapäänarskuFinnish
Canard rufinFrench
Brante roussâtreFrench
Canard espagnolFrench
Canard siffleur huppéFrench
Fuligule rouxFrench
Nette rousseFrench
Pilet à bec rougeFrench
ReadkopeinWestern Frisian
póiseard cíordheargScottish Gaelic
Laagh yiarg-chereenaghScottish Gaelic
Pato rubioGalician
נטהHebrew
נטה אדומת ראשHebrew
נטה אדומת-ראשHebrew
patka gogoljicaCroatian
üstökösréceHungarian
Սուզաբադ կարմրակտուցArmenian
KólföndIcelandic
fistione turcoItalian
アカハシハジロJapanese
წითელცხვირა ყურყუმელაGeorgian
Хызыл аас öртекkjn
Қызылбас сүњгуірKazakh
Қызылтұмсық сүңгуірKazakh
ಕೆಂಪುತಲೆ ಬಾತುKannada
붉은부리흰죽지Korean
KrounenintLuxembourgish
šalminė antisLithuanian
lielgalvisLatvian
патка превезMacedonian
Brajmla tat-Toppu AħmarMaltese
Улаан хошуут шумбуурMongolian
RøhodeandNorwegian Bokmål
krooneendDutch
raudhovudandNorwegian Nynorsk
rødhodeandNorwegian
ରଙ୍ଗ ଗେଣ୍ଡିOdia
hełmiatkaPolish
hełmiatka (zwyczajna)Polish
Hełmiatka zwyczajnaPolish
pato-de-bico-vermelhoPortuguese
Anda cotschnaRomansh
raţa cu ciufRomanian
Raţă cu ciufRomanian
Rață cu ciufRomanian
Нырок красноносыйRussian
красноносый нырокRussian
RuksessoaifiehtaNorthern Sami
ruksesoaifiehtaNorthern Sami
hrdzavka potápaváSlovak
tatarska žvižgavkaSlovenian
murçakuAlbanian
murrcakuAlbanian
murrçakuAlbanian
ПревезSerbian
Plovka prevez / Пловка превезSerbian
PrevezSerbian
rödhuvad dykandSwedish
เป็ดปากแดงThai
macar ordegiTurkish
macar ördeğiTurkish
Кызыл думчуктуг шымныракTuvinian
червононосий нирокUkrainian
Червонодзьоба черньUkrainian
Чернь червонодзьобаUkrainian
赤嘴潛鴨Chinese
赤嘴潜鸭Chinese

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist TAXREF Wikidata WoRMS IUCN Red List

Relatives of the red-crested pochard

Other species in the same genus Netta.

Rosy-billed pochard

Netta peposaca

Anatidae

Southern pochard

Netta erythrophthalma

Anatidae

CompareRed-crested pochard vs Rosy-billed pochard Red-crested pochard vs Southern pochard

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the red-crested pochard?

The red-crested pochard is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup, placed in the family Anatidae and the order Anseriformes.

How heavy is the red-crested pochard?

An adult red-crested pochard weighs 1.118 kg, with reported values from 1.112 to 1.14 kg. Its wingspan is 87 cm, from 84 to 90 cm.

What does the red-crested pochard eat?

The red-crested pochard is a herbivore.

What habitat does the red-crested pochard use?

The red-crested pochard uses wetland habitat and has an aquatic lifestyle. It is partially migratory.

Is the red-crested pochard endangered?

No. The red-crested pochard is listed as Least Concern (LC) in the global IUCN assessment, which is not a threatened category.

How long does the red-crested pochard live?

The red-crested pochard has a lifespan of 7.4 years, with values up to 8.75 years reported.

How many eggs does the red-crested pochard lay?

The red-crested pochard lays 9 eggs per clutch and one clutch per year. Incubation lasts 27 days.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · 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 · 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 · 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 · 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 · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
Wikipedia (English) · 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).

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Red-crested pochard (Netta rufina). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-crested-pochard

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BibTeX

@misc{red_crested_pochard_2026,
  title = {Red-crested pochard (Netta rufina)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-crested-pochard},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}