# Tufted duck (*Aythya fuligula*)

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

The tufted duck (Aythya fuligula), also called the Tufted 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 from 682.5 g to 723 g, a representative value of 701.2 g, and a wingspan of 71 cm. The tufted duck is an aquatic, partially migratory bird of wetland habitats; its diet category is herbivore and its trophic level is listed as omnivore. It lays 1 clutch per year of 9.6 eggs, which are incubated for 24.5 days, and it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 682.5 g – 723 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Wingspan | 71 cm |
| Lifespan | 22 years |
| Diet | Herbivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 45.3 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | wetland |
| Egg incubation | 24.5 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 9.4 – 9.6 |
| Age at maturity | 12 months |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Lifestyle | Aquatic |
| Migration | Partial |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Anseriformes
- family: Anatidae
- genus: Aythya
- species: *Aythya fuligula* (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms: *Anas colymbis*, *Anas cristata*, *Anas cristata*, *Anas fuligula*, *Anas rufitorques*, *Anas scandiaca*, *Anas scandica*, *Fuligula cristata*, *Fuligula cristata*, *Fuligula fuligula*, *Fuligula linnéi*, *Nyroca fuligula*

## Common questions

### How heavy is a tufted duck?

An adult Tufted duck weighs from 682.5 g to 723 g, with a representative value of 701.2 g. Its wingspan is 71 cm.

### What does the tufted duck eat?

Its diet category is herbivore, while its trophic level is listed as omnivore.

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

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

### Is the tufted duck endangered?

No. The tufted duck is listed as Least Concern (LC) in the global IUCN assessment, which is not a threatened category.

### How long does a tufted duck live?

The tufted duck has a lifespan of 22 years, and the highest value reported by our sources is 45.25 years.

### How many eggs does a tufted duck lay?

A tufted duck lays 9.6 eggs per clutch and 1 clutch per year. The eggs are incubated for 24.5 days, and the birds reach sexual maturity at 1 year.

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

The tufted duck is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup, in the family Anatidae and the genus Aythya.

### Who named the tufted duck?

The scientific name Aythya fuligula carries the authority (Linnaeus, 1758).

## 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: Tufted duck (Aythya fuligula). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/tufted-duck