Garganey

Garganey

Spatula querquedula

Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Lisbon

In 3 days <5%

39 Verified sightings at Lisbon
2,998 In all 25 parks From 2019 to 2026
March Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Garganey

The garganey (Spatula querquedula) is a small dabbling duck. It breeds in much of Europe and across the Palearctic, but is strictly migratory, with the entire population moving to Africa, India (in particular Santragachi), Bangladesh (in the natural reservoirs of Sylhet district) and Australasia during the winter of the Northern hemisphere, where large flocks can occur. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Like other small ducks such as the Eurasian teal, this species rises easily from the water with a fast twisting wader-like flight.

Their breeding habitat is grassland adjacent to shallow marshes and steppe lakes. The first formal description of the garganey was by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He introduced the binomial name Anas querquedula. A molecular phylogentic study comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2009 found that the genus Anas, as then defined, was non-monophyletic. The genus was subsequently split into four monophyletic genera with ten species including the garganey moved into the resurrected genus Spatula. This genus... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Nocturnal flight call0:15

Netherlands · 2026

© Martin Fousert · XC1089520 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:13

France · 2026

© Thierry THOMAS · XC1089418 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Flight call0:31

Russian Federation · 2025

© Albert Lastukhin · XC993449 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Keoladeo National Park 🇮🇳 India
~30%
2 Biebrza National Park 🇵🇱 Poland
~30%
3 Hortobágy National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
~20%
4 Fertő-Hanság National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
~20%
5 Kiskunság National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
~20%
6 Camargue 🇫🇷 France
~10%
7 Białowieża National Park 🇵🇱 Poland
~10%
8 Kaziranga National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
9 Ranthambore National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
10 Bavarian Forest National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
~10%
11 Yala National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~10%
12 Wadden Sea National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
<5%
13 Vatnajokull National Park 🇮🇸 Iceland
<5%
14 Doñana National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%
15 Bandipur National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
16 Amboseli National Park 🇰🇪 Kenya
<5%
17 Nagarhole National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
18 Satpura National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
19 Snowdonia National Park 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
<5%
20 Lake Nakuru National Park 🇰🇪 Kenya
<5%
21 Chitwan National Park 🇳🇵 Nepal
<5%
22 Ngorongoro Conservation Area 🇹🇿 Tanzania
<5%
23 Sierra de Guadarrama National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%
24 Kanha National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
25 Monfragüe National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Rajkot 🇮🇳 India
~10%
2 Tuen Mun 🇨🇳 China
~10%
3 Vasai-Virar 🇮🇳 India
~10%
4 Kochi 🇮🇳 India
~10%
5 Sacramento 🇺🇸 United States
~10%
6 Quanzhou 🇨🇳 China
~10%
7 Bucharest 🇷🇴 Romania
~10%
8 Indore 🇮🇳 India
~10%
9 Ponnani 🇮🇳 India
~10%
10 Patna 🇮🇳 India
~10%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 Zoobotánico Jerez 🇪🇸 Spain In captivity
2 Slimbridge Wetland Centre 🇬🇧 United Kingdom In captivity
3 Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden 🇭🇺 Hungary In captivity
4 Cleres Zoological Park 🇫🇷 France In captivity
5 Valencia Bioparc 🇪🇸 Spain In captivity
6 Inokashira Park Zoo 🇯🇵 Japan In captivity
7 Ogród Zoologiczny w Katowicach 🇵🇱 Poland In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Garganey in Lisbon?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Garganey sighting in Lisbon on a given day, based on 39 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 134th most-seen of the 186 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Garganey in Lisbon?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Garganey in Lisbon on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see a Garganey?

Between 9 am and noon

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Garganey sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Lisbon the best place to see a Garganey?

64th of 82

Of the 82 cities where we can rate Garganey sightings, Lisbon ranks 64th at under 5%. The best odds are in Rajkot (India, about 10%), Tuen Mun (China, about 10%) and Vasai-Virar (India, about 10%).

Where does the Garganey sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Garganey is recorded against all the birds logged in Lisbon (39 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.

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