Tadorna tadorna
Silhouette: Rebecca Groom · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
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...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oosterschelde National Park | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 2 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 6 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 7 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 8 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 10 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 11 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 12 | Corsica Regional Natural Park (Parc naturel régional de Corse) | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 13 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 14 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 15 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 16 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Common Shelduck sighting in Oosterschelde National Park on a given day, based on 504 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 4th most-seen of the 157 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and April
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Common Shelduck in Oosterschelde National Park on a given day, against about 50% in October, the lowest month.
Between 10 am and 1 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.
Yes
Of the 16 parks where we can rate Common Shelduck sightings, Oosterschelde National Park has the highest daily chance: about 70%. Next come Wadden Sea National Park (Germany, about 60%) and Snowdonia National Park (United Kingdom, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Anatidae
The closest relatives of the Common Shelduck that you can see in Oosterschelde National Park (family Anatidae, Ducks, Geese, and Swans) are Mallard (about 70%), Greylag Goose (about 70%) and Barnacle Goose (about 60%), 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 Oosterschelde National Park (504 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.
