Protected migratory duck visits Shenzhen Bay

A male Baikal teal takes a rest on a rock at Shenzhen Bay Park on Saturday. Wang Haolan

A male Baikal teal (Sibirionetta formosa), a second-class protected animal in China, was spotted at Shenzhen Bay Park over the weekend.

The teal, which is in breeding plumage and easily identifiable by the iridescent gold-and-green facial pattern, rosy spotted breast and metallic orange scapulars, was spotted resting on a rock near the shore at around 9:30 a.m. Saturday. It perched for a couple minutes, flew away together with other ducks, and then swam back to shore at around 11 a.m.

Birdwatchers and wildlife photographers rushed to the bay Saturday to take a snap of this rarely seen beautiful duck.

The teal has visited Shenzhen Bay for several times over one month, according to local birding reports on birdreport.cn, and it was last spotted there together with a male American wigeon Dec. 28, 2021.

The teal was first spotted at Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong on Dec. 27, 2021 and Shenzhen Bird Watching Society perceives that the teal stays in Hong Kong most of the time and will sometimes drop by Shenzhen Bay Park while foraging at the bay.

The species was first spotted in Shenzhen by a member from the birdwatching society in Shenzhen at Neilingding Futian Mangrove Nature Reserve on Feb. 26, 2017.

Baikal teals are medium-sized ducks with an average length of 36 to 43 centimeters. They breed from May to July in Northeast Asia and migrate to the south of East Asia in late September. They can be spotted in the freshwater lakes, rivers and marshes and also the coastal areas of East, Central and South China during the migratory season.

The population of Baikal teals, however, has decreased rapidly over the years and has been named as one of the second-class protected animals in China in the country’s latest list of key protected wild animals issued by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Feb. 5, 2021.

The teal added the total number of duck species visiting Shenzhen Bay during this migratory season to 11. The other 10 species are Eurasian wigeon, Northern pintail, Northern shoveler, Eurasian teal, garganey, tufted duck, common pochard, greater scaup, mallard and American wigeon.