Spatula querquedula
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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 →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 3 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 4 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 5 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 6 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 8 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 11 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 12 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 13 | Vatnajokull National Park | 🇮🇸 Iceland | |
| 14 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 15 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 16 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 17 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 18 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 19 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 20 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 21 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 22 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 23 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 24 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 25 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rajkot | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Tuen Mun | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 3 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Kochi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Quanzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 7 | Bucharest | 🇷🇴 Romania | |
| 8 | Indore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Ponnani | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Patna | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zoobotánico Jerez | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Slimbridge Wetland Centre | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 4 | Cleres Zoological Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Valencia Bioparc | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Inokashira Park Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 7 | Ogród Zoologiczny w Katowicach | 🇵🇱 Poland |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Garganey sighting in Sacramento on a given day, based on 41 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 78th most-seen of the 235 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Garganey in Sacramento on a given day, against under 5% in February and April–December, the lowest months. That is one of Sacramento's wettest months, with about 90 mm of rain against almost none in July.
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.
Among the best
Of the 82 cities where we can rate Garganey sightings, Sacramento ranks 5th at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Rajkot (India, about 10%), Tuen Mun (China, about 10%) and Vasai-Virar (India, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Garganey is recorded against all the birds logged in Sacramento (41 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.
