Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)

A visit to Poole Harbour at any time of year will undoubtedly yield a number of these handsome ducks. In winter, however, the numbers increase with birds coming south from northern Britain and Scandinavia.

The Shelduck is not actually a duck, and It not a goose either! Scientifically, it placed between the two and actually, it s not hard to see why.

The diet of a Shelduck is somewhat different to ducks and geese who tend to be vegetarian, in that they eat enormous numbers if Hydrobia which are tiny molluscs that live in our estuary mud flats. Molluscs have shells hence the name - Shelduck. Easy!

Males and females are very similar but the male (as in this photo) has a broader brown waste band.

Shelduck make their nests in burrows, often those of Rabbits. How does such a large bird get down into such a relatively small hole?

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