Mareca falcata
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The falcated duck or falcated teal (Mareca falcata) is a gadwall-sized dabbling duck from the east Palearctic (East Siberia and Mongolia to North Japan; wintering to India). The closest relative of this species is the gadwall, followed by the wigeons. The species was assigned to the proposed genus Mareca after its previous placement in the genus Anas was found to be paraphyletic in 2009.
There are many species that have mitochondrial DNA lineages that are phylogenetically intermixed with other species, but studies have rarely tested the cause of such paraphyly. In a study that was conducted, there were tested two hypotheses that could explain mitochondrial paraphyly of Holarctic gadwalls (Anas strepera) with respect to Asian falcated ducks (A. falcata). First, hybridization could have resulted in falcated duck mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) introgressing into the gadwall gene pool. Second, gadwalls and falcated ducks could have diverged so recently that mtDNA lineages have not sorted to reciprocal monophyly. They used coalescent analyses of three independent loci to distinguish between these two hypotheses. Two lines of evidence support introgression. First, analyses of the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disney's Animal Kingdom | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Cleveland Metroparks Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Minnesota Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Whitcliff Park (Deer Park) | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Moody Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Tanganyika Wildlife Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Fort Worth Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Gatorland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Rosamond Gifford Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Cleres Zoological Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 13 | Inokashira Park Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 14 | Elmwood Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Tracy Aviary | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Battersea Park Children's Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 17 | Animal Enclosure | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 18 | Wild Discovery Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 19 | Greater Cleveland Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 20 | Kung Fu Corals | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 21 | Llys Nini | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 22 | ResQue Ranch Inc. | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 23 | Sea Life London Aquarium | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 24 | Zoological Wildlife Foundation | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Falcated Duck sighting in Keoladeo National Park on a given day, based on 99 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 173rd most-seen of the 278 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Falcated Duck in Keoladeo National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March to December, the lowest months. Those are among Keoladeo National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 240 mm in July.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Falcated Duck sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Falcated Duck sightings, Keoladeo National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Kaziranga National Park (India, about 10%).
Same genus: Mareca
The closest relatives of the Falcated Duck that you can see in Keoladeo National Park (genus Mareca, Wigeons and Allies) are Gadwall (about 50%) and Eurasian Wigeon (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Falcated Duck is recorded against all the birds logged in Keoladeo National Park (99 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.
