Spatula querquedula
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
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...
| # | 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 | Tiruppur | 🇮🇳 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 |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Garganey sighting in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary on a given day, based on 66 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 56th most-seen of the 173 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Garganey in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary on a given day, against about 30% in April, the lowest month. That is one of Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary's driest months, with almost no rain against 55 mm in August. May to October have too few records to rate.
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.
Yes
Of the 27 parks where we can rate Garganey sightings, Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary has the highest daily chance: about 50%. Next come Keoladeo National Park (India, about 30%) and Biebrza National Park (Poland, about 30%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Garganey is recorded against all the birds logged in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (66 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
