Current view: Data table and detailed info
Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
IUCN Red List criteria met and history
Red List criteria met
Red List history
| Migratory status |
full migrant |
Forest dependency |
does not normally occur in forest |
| Land-mass type |
continent
|
Average mass |
- |
Population justification: There are estimates of the species four flyway populations as follows: west Mediterranean and west Africa 6,000-7,500 individuals, Eastern Mediterranean 20-100 individuals, south-west Asia 46,000-50,000 individuals, and South Asia c. 5,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2022). However, a number of these have no recent information and to incorporate uncertainty larger bounds are used here. For example, data for the south Asian wintering population dates from between 1987-1991: there are no recent records of large numbers from the area comparable with this number in the past decade. Updated values used are: west Mediterranean and west Africa 7,500-10,000 individuals, east Mediterranean 150-250 individuals, south-west Asia 7,000-50,000, and south Asia 350-1,000 individuals.
For the west Mediterranean and west Africa population count totals in winter have reached 7,435 individuals in 2017 (Nagy and Langendoen 2020), implying that the true number is somewhat higher than this given the large area of unsurveyed habitat across north Africa. The population size range is expanded here to 7,500-10,000 individuals, but it is noted there is the potential for it to be considerably higher.
There is considerable uncertainty in the size and trends of the south west Asia population, which is largely concentrated in the Mesopotamian marshes of Iran and Iraq. In 2010 winter counts over southern Iraq observed c. 44,000 individuals, possibly due to birds concentrating at single sites as a result of changes in water levels elsewhere in its range (Salim 2010). Subsequent changes to water availability across the region means that deriving national population estimates is difficult, and the significance of recent, much lower counts is uncertain. Fewer than 100 individuals were found between 2015-2016 surveys of Hor Al-Dalmaj and a maximum of 110 individuals were observed at Sawa Lake (Abed et al. 2017). Across the larger area between 2014 and 2018, 4,373 individuals were recorded (based on the highest annual IWC count; Wetlands International 2022), but there has been a subsequent single site count of 5,000 individuals during August-September 2021 in Hur al-Azim, Iran (which is connected to the wetlands of southern Iraq) (K. Hafezi in litt. 2022). The partially nomadic behaviour of the species makes it difficult to assess to what extent this reflects redistribution of birds particularly due to natural fluctuations in its population numbers every year (F. Botella in litt. 2022). Accounting for those in countries further north, the minimum bound for the south west Asian population is likely to be between 7,000 and 50,000 individuals.
The east Mediterranean population includes countries where rapid declines and extinctions have been documented: Georgia (where the last individuals were observed 'several decades ago': N. Paposhvili in litt. 2022) and Türkiye, where c. 120 breeding pairs at the start of the 1990s had dwindled to none by 2014 (Boyla et al. 2019, Ö.Ü. Özkoç in litt. 2022). However, larger numbers than recorded in recent census counts have been reported in Israel (e.g. Meyrav 2022), and the numbers breeding in Syria are unknown, such that there may have been a concentration of this population in the middle of this range. The range of 20-100 individuals for this region (Wetlands International 2022) may be too low, with around 200 recorded near simultaneously in Israel in June 2022 (eBird 2022), but these appear to represent the bulk of the remaining birds hence this population is thought to fall between 150-250 individuals.
There are few recent records of wintering birds in south Asia, though there is little coverage in Pakistan where most would be expected to occur (Green 1993). Hardly any have been reported via eBird in the past few years, which has very high numbers of active users in India (eBird 2022): the species appears to now be a rare visitor. Consequently it would seem unlikely that there are still 5,000 individuals regularly wintering in this this region, although it is suspected that many of these individuals have shifted their wintering areas or the extent to which they migrate rather than being entirely lost to the global population. Numbers wintering here and separate to those within the south-west Asian population are therefore placed in a band of 1,000-5,000 individuals.
Accordingly, the overall population is here estimated to fall between 15,000-61,250 individuals, rounded to 15,000-61,000 individuals, roughly converted to 10,000-40,000 mature individuals.
Trend justification: The overall population is suspected to be undergoing a moderately rapid decline.
In the south west Asian population there is evidence to suspect there has been a moderately rapid to rapid population decline, although recent short-term increases have been recorded in Iran and Iraq (Nagy and Langendoen 2020, Wetlands International 2022). The Mesopotamian marshes of Iran and Iraq are thought to have held up to c. 80% of the global population in the recent past, with very large counts of c. 44,000 individuals in winter 2010 appear to have been due to the concentration of individuals from across a large area due to widespread drought coinciding with the restoration of the Mesopotamian marshes (Salim 2010). Inevitably, subsequent counts have been smaller as environmental circumstances have altered, with the largest recent single-site count of 5,000 in August-September 2021 in Hur al-Azim, Iran (K. Hafezi in litt. 2022). It is suspected that there has been both a significant dispersal across the region of the birds counted in 2010, but also that this population has declined, potentially at a rapid rate, due to the continued impacts of habitat destruction through wetland disturbance and drainage, climate change and hunting, with added affects of invasive species and pollutants (K. Ararat in litt. 2022, S. A. Abed in litt. 2022, K. Hafezi in litt. 2022, S. Nagy in litt. 2022, M. A. Salim in litt. 2022, M. Shobrak in litt. 2022). Elsewhere, the trend is reported as stable in Azerbaijan, declining in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and unknown in Kazakhstan (Wetlands International 2022). Only small numbers remain in Armenia (Keller et al. 2020) where it is declining (Wetlands International 2022). It has been extinct as a breeding bird in Georgia for several decades (N. Paposhvili in litt. 2022).
The western Mediterranean and west African population has undergone several increases and periods of stability (Nagy and Langendoen 2020), although some of the apparent fluctuation may be due to variation in monitoring efforts (N. Petkov in litt. 2022). The reported trend for north African countries is uncertain, but counts indicate that it may have increased taking into account redistribution of individuals between countries (Wetlands International 2022). In Morocco, there is a stable long-term trend with winter counts averaging around 2,000 individuals for 2001-2005, 2006-2010 and 2011-2015; El Agbani et al. 2017, Qninba et al. 2017, Ouassou et al. 2017, M. Amezian in litt. 2022)). In other north African countries the trend is uncertain, with redistribution noted between Tunisia and Algeria (Wetlands International 2022), but there does not seem to be any evidence of significant abundance change. It is difficult to interpret the situation in Iberia, as reintroduction programmes distort population size estimates (see BirdGuides 2022, A. Green in litt. 2022, N. Petkov in litt. 2022): potentially 95% of the breeding population consists of individuals released from captivity (F. Botella in litt. 2022). It is suspected the species would be faring very poorly in the absence of releases given evidence of habitat deterioration across key sites in Spain (such as in Doñana and El Hondo; W. Duckworth in litt. 2022, A. Green in litt. 2022, N. Petkov in litt. 2022, T. K. Roy in litt. 2022) and possible hunting impacts (F. Botella in litt. 2022). The European population is now only a very small proportion of the global population.
The east Mediterranean population appears to be suffering ongoing and potentially rapid declines (Wetlands International 2022), including in Turkey a decline from c. 120 pairs in the early 1990s to extinction by 2014 (Boyla et al. 2019, Ö.Ü. Özkoç in litt. 2022). Only small numbers were reported as part of monitoring in Israel (Wetlands International 2022), however there are much larger recent counts from the country at additional sites (e.g. Meyrav 2022), suggesting that the true population there is larger.
Its status across South Asia remains uncertain (partly due to difficulty in interpreting clear population trends due to changing water levels and its nomadic behaviour), but it seems to now be much scarcer in India since the population was estimated at c. 5,000 in the early 1990s (Perennou et al. 1994, T. Mundkur in litt. 2021, T. K. Roy in litt. 2022). What is not clear is whether this reflects a shift in distribution, extent of migratory behaviour or a significant population decline. Similarly large counts of wintering birds in the 1990s in Pakistan (Green 1993) have not been reported recently and the area of suitable habitat is assessed to have shrunk (Chaudhry et al. 2019). While a redistribution may have occurred to some extent, it is sensible to assume a moderate to rapid decline here also.
Reflecting the uncertainty about the species' status across its range, but also that declines are affecting significant parts of the range, it is suspected overall the population is declining at a moderately rapid rate, placed in a band of 20-29% reduction over three generations (12 years), with similar rates projected in the future due to ongoing threats.
Country/territory distribution
Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Marbled Duck Marmaronetta angustirostris. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/marbled-duck-marmaronetta-angustirostris on 22/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/12/2024.
