Tadorna tadorna
Silhouette: Rebecca Groom · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The common shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) is a waterfowl species of the shelduck genus Tadorna. It is widespread and common in the Palearctic, in Europe and northwest Africa mainly breeding on temperate coasts, saline pools and estuaries, and in Asia on inland salt lakes; increasingly it is also using open freshwater habitats inland. Wintering is in temperate to subtropical regions.
The common shelduck was formally named by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Anas tadorna. Linnaeus largely based his description on "The Sheldrake or Burrough-Duck" that had been described and illustrated in 1731 by the English naturalist Eleazar Albin. The specific epithet comes from the French word Tadorne for this species, a name that was used by the French naturalist Pierre Belon in 1555. It may originally derive from Celtic roots meaning "pied waterfowl", essentially the same as the English "shelduck". Linnaeus specified the locality as Europe but restricted this to Sweden in 1761. The common shelduck is now placed in the genus Tadorna that was introduced in 1822 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie. The species... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 5 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 6 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 7 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 8 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 11 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 12 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 13 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 14 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Shelduck sighting in Dublin on a given day, based on 761 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 48th most-seen of the 145 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Common Shelduck in Dublin on a given day, against under 5% in August and September, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Shelduck sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 36
Of the 36 cities where we can rate Common Shelduck sightings, Dublin ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Liverpool (United Kingdom, about 50%) and Tunis (Tunisia, about 20%).
Same family: Anatidae
The closest relatives of the Common Shelduck that you can see in Dublin (family Anatidae, Ducks, Geese, and Swans) are Mallard (about 50%), Mute Swan (about 30%) and Tufted Duck (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Shelduck is recorded against all the birds logged in Dublin (761 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
