Other Names: Tufted Pochard, In Dutch- Vigg Kuifeend and in Italy- Moretta. The Tufted Duck is Great Britain's most common diving duck, standing about 12 inches long at full growth. When it comes to speaking about ducks people refer to it as a small, compact diving duck with a rounded crown and yellow eyes. The Tufted Duck displays a blue bill with black tip and the duck has a wing span of about thirty inches.
The weight of an adult male Tufted Duck is one to two pounds and heavier then the females. The young female Tufted Duck is similar in plumage to the adult female. The immature male Tufted Duck is similar to female in autumn, but gets darker plumage during the winter.
The adult male duck show dark plumage during the colder months from autumn through the winter. During this time the male shows a shiny purplish head with a crest, a black chest and a black back. The male duck on its flanks and stomach is ivory white in color with a black tail. The adult female Tufted Duck sometimes has a small crest and a dark brown body plumage with an ivory white stomach.
It takes the Tufted Duck from one to two years before they are sexually mature. The ducks will begin mating in May and continue mating until August. The female Tufted Duck after mating will lay between eight and eleven grayish green eggs. The mother will sit on the eggs for about four weeks and after about six weeks the young birds become independent.
The Tufted Duck, a diving duck, lives in and near fresh water and the duck lives many years and the oldest known Tufted Duck lived about 14 years. The diet of the Tufted Duck consists of mollusks, cray fish, bugs and seeds.
The Tufted Duck is a breeding species over most areas. It inhabits environments like small islands of the oceans, and inhabits areas in the mountains near water. In the winter months Swedish birders see the Tufted Duck in the inshore waters. It is a common duck both in the east coast and southern sea islands of Sweden.
About 15% of the entire Northwest European winter population of Tufted Ducks inhabit Swedish waters. In the autumn months large flocks gather on different sea islands and on some lakes.
All birds and animals need to keep themselves clean. This is especially true of birds that
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