Branta Issues > Issue №6 (2003)

White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala) records in the North-Western near Azov area

Falko A.N.

White-headed Duck is very seldom recorded in Ukraine. But over the last decade records of this species became more frequent at the Sivash, KarkinitskyBay, along the coast of Tarkhankut Peninsula, and at the Dnieper lower reaches. In the north-western part of the near Azov area White-headed Duck was registered 28.09.1948, 19.09.1977, 10.08.1980 and 12.06.1982.

After 21 year of the last record five ducks were registered during October-November 2003: 1 bird was observed 22 October among Black-necked Grebes at Utlyuksky Liman, near the north dam by the village of Atmanay (Akimovka district, Zaporizhzhya region); 3 birds swam on 1 November near hunting dummies at the mouth of Domuzla river (Priazovie district, Zaporizhzhya region); 1 bird was observing during 40 minutes on the pond in the upper Sivashik Lake by the village of Solenoe (Akimovka district, Zaporizhzhya region).

These facts can at least testify to periodical stay of White-headed Ducks in the North-Western near Azov area during autumn-winter and possibly a similarly stay of the bird in the whole Azov-BlackSea region of Ukraine. But both because of small number of the species and limited contacts between ornithologists and hunters we still practically know nothing about these ducks in the region.