Tadorna tadorna
Silhouette: Rebecca Groom · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week >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... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 5 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 6 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 7 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 8 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 11 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 12 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 13 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 14 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Common Shelduck sighting in Snowdonia National Park on a given day, based on 608 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 27th most-seen of the 164 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Common Shelduck in Snowdonia National Park on a given day, against about 10% in August and September, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 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.
2nd of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate Common Shelduck sightings, Snowdonia National Park ranks 2nd at about 40%. The best odds are in Wadden Sea National Park (Germany, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Anatidae
The closest relatives of the Common Shelduck that you can see in Snowdonia National Park (family Anatidae, Ducks, Geese, and Swans) are Mallard (about 60%), Canada Goose (about 50%) and Mute Swan (about 40%), 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 Snowdonia National Park (608 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.
