Justification: This species has experienced some very marked declines in parts of Europe, and was thought to be declining in Asia, hence it was classified as Vulnerable in 1994. However, a much greater proportion of the population occurs in Asia than previously thought, where it remains common over large areas of suitable habitat and faces no apparent threats. Using a very conservative estimate of the Asian population, European populations would have to decline at rates of 40–50% in ten years for the species to meet the threshold for Vulnerable (i.e. 20% in ten years). Although there are local declines of this magnitude in Europe, there is little evidence to support such a rapid overall decline. Moreover, it has a huge range, which has fluctuated considerably over the last c.150 years as the species has modified its distribution. This has included the abandonment of former key areas, and may partly explain some of the recent declines in Europe. This species has therefore been downlisted to Near Threatened.

Range and Population: Aythya nyroca breeds in Europe, Asia (east to China and south to India) and north Africa. The wintering range overlaps with the breeding range but extends to the Middle East, west and north-east Africa and South-East Asia. The main part of the population occurs in Asia, although quantitative data are lacking. An estimate for north Africa and Asia of 10,000 individuals in 1991⁴ appears too low. Recent surveys have found high numbers, perhaps into the tens of thousands, in Inner Mongolia⁶, and it is apparently common on the Tibetan Plateau, China⁵, and in winter in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand. Other large winter counts have been made in Azerbaijan (9,000 birds), Turkmenistan (20,833 birds)² and Uzbekistan (7,000 birds)³. However, numbers of breeding birds have declined in Kazakhstan¹ and Uzbekistan³. In Europe, there have been some declines in breeding populations, notably in Ukraine where numbers have fallen from a possible 70,000 to an estimated 1,500 pairs since the 1950s, and also in Moldova, Poland, Hungary, and Spain. However, populations remain stable in a number of other countries. The European population is now an estimated 13,000-24,000 pairs. The key threat is the loss of its wetland habitat, of well vegetated shallow pools, including extensively managed fishponds. Hunting is also a serious threat. A European action plan will be published in 2000. CMS Appendix I and II.

1. 1. Berezovikov and Samusev (1998)
2. 2. Carboneras (1992a)
3. 3. Kashkarov and Mukhina (1997)
4. 4. Perennou et al. (1994)
5. 5. Scott (1993)
6. 6. Xing Lianlian pers. comm. (1998)
7. 7. Wetlands International (2002). Waterbirds Population Estimates - Third Edition. Wetlands International Global Series o. 12, Wageningen, The Netherlands