Pink-headed Duck - Status

Status

This duck formerly occurred in eastern India, Bangladesh and northern Myanmar, but is now probably extinct. It was always rare, and the last confirmed sighting, by C. M. Inglis, was from Darbhanga in June 1935, with reports from India persisting until the early 1960s. These include reports from Monghyr and from near Simla. Sidney Dillon Ripley considered it likely extinct in 1950.

In 1988, Rory Nugent, an American birder, and Shankar Barua of Delhi, reported spotting the elusive bird on the banks of the Brahmaputra. The pair started their quest for the bird at Saikhoa ghat on the north-eastern end of the river on the Indian side of the border. After 29 days of sailing, Nugent said that he saw the pink-headed duck amidst a flock of other waterbirds. However, Nugent and Barua's claimed sighting has not been widely accepted. Reports of pink-headed ducks after the 1960s have been received from the largely unexplored Mali Hka and Chindwin Myit drainages in Northern Myanmar. While the area is not very well surveyed by scientists, searches have been inconclusive and confusion with the Red-crested Pochard and the Spot-billed Duck has been a common source of supposed Pink-headed Duck sightings. A report on a survey in the Hu Kaung valley in November 2003 concluded that there is sufficient reason to believe that Pink-headed ducks may still exist in Northern Myanmar's Kachin State, but a thorough survey of the Nat Kaung river between Kamaing and Shadusup in October 2005 failed to find this species; a number of interesting ducks were observed, but they turned out to be Spot-billed Ducks or White-winged Ducks. Suggestions have been made that it may be nocturnal.

The reason for its disappearance was probably habitat destruction. It is not known why it was always considered rare, but the rarity is believed to be genuine (and not an artefact of insufficient fieldwork) as its erstwhile habitat was frequently scoured by hunters in Colonial times. The Pink-headed Duck was much sought after by hunters and later as an ornamental bird, mainly because of its unusual plumage. Like most diving ducks, it was not considered good eating, which should facilitate the survival of any remnant birds. The last specimen was shot in 1935 in Darbhanga, Bihar, India, by C. M. Inglis, who did not even know what he had killed, till his dog, a retriever, brought the bird to him. Some birds were also kept in the aviaries of Jean Théodore Delacour in Clères (France) and Alfred Ezra at Foxwarren Park (England) where the last known birds lived in captivity. The only known photographs of the species were taken here and include one of a pair taken around 1925 by David Seth-Smith.