Savka bird. Savka. Brief morphological description
Distribution and habitats.Within Russia duck breeds in the Central Ciscaucasia and on the Sarpinsky lakes, periodically on the Manych-Gudilo and Manych lakes; to the east - in the south of the Tyumen region in the Tobol-Ishim interfluve, in the Kulunda steppe and in the upper reaches of the Yenisei.
The cutthroat inhabits water bodies with dense thickets of reeds, including brackish ones with bogs. Sometimes it prefers to nest in colonies of gulls and grebes. Winters in Iran, Turkey, North Africa, Pakistan and India. Common on migration in Manych valley.
Field signs. The duck is a medium-sized duck (500 - 800 g), of dense build with a short and thick neck, and a large head. A drake in nuptial attire has a white head with a dark cap. There is a black collar around the neck. The back and sides are rusty gray with dark specks. Abdomen light yellowish. The lower neck and chest are rusty brown. The tail of the duck is dark and is formed by nine pairs of long and stiff tail feathers standing upright. The wings are small, and the duck can only take off from the water, and then with great difficulty. The beak is wide, swollen at the base, gray-blue. Paws are gray-red with dark webs. The female has a light brown head, and the upper part of the neck has a whitish tint. The paws are dark gray in color, and the beak is darker than that of the male.
Biology. The nesting period for the white-headed duck is extended from May to July. There are up to 9 eggs in the cage, and they are never covered with fluff. There are usually up to five ducklings in a brood. It feeds on larvae of aquatic insects, charophytes, vegetative parts and seeds of pondweeds. Relic look. A small part of the population participates in reproduction, while most of the mature individuals do not nest.
Security. Savka is included in the Red Book of Russia. An extremely vulnerable species, a sharp decrease in the number of which is associated with a reduction in habitat area as a result of regulation of river flow and disruption of the natural cycle of watering arid territories. It is protected in reserves and sanctuaries of Ciscaucasia and Western Siberia.
Yuri Blokhin, Andrei Linkov, Sergei Fokin. Russian hunting newspaper. Special issue. diving ducks
Savki (tribe, 3 genera). Oxyurini.
A peculiar group of freshwater ducks with a relatively long tail of stiff feathers, which the birds often hold almost vertically. At the base of the beak, many have a slight swelling. Most have well-defined sexual dimorphism in color. They inhabit all continents except Antarctica. They keep on fresh water bodies, heavily overgrown with near-water vegetation, as well as on well-watered swamps. This tribe includes the black-headed duck (Heteronetta atricapilla), which lives in South America, white-backed (Thalassomis leuconotus) - in South and East Africa, as well as representatives of the genus Okuiga.
Species: Oxyura leucocephala (Scopoli, 1769) = White-headed duck 
Habitat: Rare, sporadically distributed, poorly studied species with declining numbers. Wing length 147-165 mm. Steppe zone lakes.
Spreading. Breeds on steppe lakes of the Caspian Sea and Lower Volga region (Sarpinskoye lake) to the north to Volgograd, along the middle reaches of the Urals, in the Chelyabinsk region, in the Tobolo-Ishim, Baraba and Kulunda steppes, in the foothills of Altai, in the Tuva and Ubsunur depressions (1 - 3). In addition, in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan. The main wintering areas are the Krasnovodsk Bay, the vicinity of Gasan-Kuli, in the north of India, Pakistan, Western Asia, and the northern coast of Africa. Inhabits steppe lakes with dense thickets of reeds and quagmire (2,3). Nests are located mainly at the water's edge along the edges of rafts and thickets of reeds and cattails. The habitat area varies significantly over the years due to water level fluctuations characteristic of these places. Migrates through Turgai and Aral Sea to the Caspian Sea, Iran and Pakistan, as well as through the northern Caspian Sea and the Manych Valley to Turkey and North Africa. 
Number. The total number is unknown, although it is clear that it is constantly declining and universally small. So, on the lake Krotovaya Lyaga (Northern Kulunda) in 1966, 15 pairs of whiteheads were noted, in 1967 - 12, in 1969 - 4, and in 1970 - only 3 pairs (3). On the lake Nyashino (Armizonsky district of the Tyumen region) in June 1977, 14 pairs of whiteheads were counted in the colony of terns. In Baraba on the lake. Cape June 10, 1973 found 1 nest. On the lake Belukha On May 7, 1975, 3 pairs of white whales were noted, on the lake. Up to 15 birds were observed in 1973, and in 1975 15 whiteheads were counted (8, 9). In the winter of 1973 - 1974 in Pakistan 918 birds (5) were counted, in Turkey in 1974 - 5740 (6) . In total, there are about 15 thousand individuals in the world (7).
limiting factors. Apparently, the duck is a relict endangered species. The situation is getting worse now negative influence periodic fluctuations in water levels, deterioration of nesting sites due to anthropogenic activities, fishing, rarefaction of reed beds by muskrat.
Security measures. It is protected in a number of forest-steppe reserves for waterfowl. The extraction of nets is prohibited. Special protection measures have not been developed.
After identifying the nesting sites of these birds, it is necessary to organize the protection of a number of overgrown steppe and forest-steppe lakes, especially areas occupied by colonies of gulls and terns; introduce a ban on fishing near the edges of thickets and quagmire, on local stretches during the nesting and chicking periods; production should be prohibited at wintering grounds. It is required to organize a nature reserve on lakes Chany and Chernoe. It is recommended to explore the possibilities of captive breeding.
Sources of information: 1. Isakov, Ptushenko, 1952; 2. Dolgushin, 1960; 3. Ivanov, 1974; 4. Isakov, 1963; 5 Koning and Dijksen 1974a; 6. Koning and Dijksen, 1974b; 7. Matthews and Evans, 1974; 8. Drobovtsev, Koshelev, 1980; 9. Azarov, Ivanov, 1981. Compiled by G. K. Ivanov.
SAVKA (Oxyura leucocephala) is a duck of medium size, its weight ranges from 0.4 to 0.9 kg. This is a kind of duck, which differs from other species in a number of features. Savka can be immediately recognized by the manner of swimming with an almost vertically set tail. At the same time, she sits quite high on the water, but in case of danger she immerses her body in water so that only the very top of her back remains on the surface; she also swims with strong excitement of the water. The white-headed duck swims beautifully and dives remarkably, yielding in this, perhaps, only to the cormorant and loons. It can swim under water, changing direction, up to 30-40 m. It plunges without a splash, as if sinking, and, emerging from the water, is able to dive again in a second and swim the same distance under water. It flies reluctantly and rarely, never comes ashore. Her whole life is spent on the water. The female is uniformly brown, while the male has a white head at a distance.
This duck nests on steppe lakes with thickets of reeds and open reaches with rich aquatic vegetation. Nests are made floating, among reeds, at a shallow depth. In the clutch, most often 6 eggs, striking in their size: they are much larger than mallard eggs and approximately equal to shelduck eggs. The nest, on the other hand, is relatively small. The eggs are off-white.
One female incubates the eggs. The incubating female never manages to be found in the nest, which is apparently connected with the peculiarity of the development of the eggs. It is believed that the very large eggs of this duck need constant warming only at first, and the embryos developing in them very soon acquire the ability for independent thermoregulation, which ensures them further development. There is a known case when the hatched eggs of the white-headed duck taken from the nest, which were in the rooms without any heating, developed normally and in a week the chicks hatched from them. Downy chicks have stiff tail feathers. The chicks lift their tails like adults do. The cutthroat feeds on leaves and seeds of various aquatic plants, as well as aquatic insects, mollusks and crustaceans. The commercial value of the cutthroat is small, since its number is nowhere high.
Sources: http://www.nature.ok.ru; www.floranimal.ru
Appearance . The duck is medium in size, has a long wedge-shaped tail and relatively short wings. The plumage is predominantly brown in color with an almost black fine pattern, the neck and crown are black, and the head itself is white, the legs are gray, the beak is bright blue. The difference of the female is a dark brown head and white stripes near the neck and above the eyes, gray beak and paws.
Lifestyle . The white-headed duck inhabits the steppe, desert and forest-steppe zones; for wintering it flies to sea bays or large continental lakes. Depending on the area, it can be either a migratory or a settled bird.
Nesting is carried out on fresh, rarely salty lakes, abundantly overgrown with reeds and having clean reaches. The nest is built from leaves and reed stems among its thickets either near the water itself or directly on the water, attached to the stems. Does not make a lining, but there are nests with white fluff at the bottom. Laying is carried out in early June, it contains from 5 to 7 rather large eggs with a rough granular shell. At first they are greenish in color, later they become dirty yellow. The peculiarity of incubation is that the duck heats the eggs only for the first time, then the development of the embryo occurs independently.
It is interesting that, in principle, the white-headed duck flies quite quickly, but does not like it and takes off heavily and takes a very long run. On the surface of the water, the tail holds vertically, dives perfectly - it plunges into the water completely silently. He is always silent and tries not to stick his head out - he hides.
It feeds on leaves and seeds of various aquatic plants, insects or larvae.
Similar types. Compared to all other ducks, the duck has a rather long wedge-shaped and constantly sharply upturned tail, consisting of pointed feathers. When compared with a sailor, then they are quite similar in plumage color, however, the structure and common features totally different.
The duck is a kind of duck of medium size, on the water it is distinguished by a stepped, pointed tail sticking out almost vertically. Stiff tail feathers are almost not covered by very short upper and lower tail coverts.
The male in breeding plumage has a white head with a black crown, the neck is also black. The general coloration is reddish-brown with dark stripes and spots. The underside of the body is bluish-brown. There is no mirror on the wing. The beak is bright blue, the paws are red, the iris is yellow. The female is brown. The chin and top of the neck are white. The underside of the body is light grey. Beak and legs are grey. Wing length 147-160, beak 46-50 mm. Weight 720-900 g.
Savka breeds in our steppe lakes of Western Siberia to the east to the Baraba and Kulunda steppes. In Central Asia, it is common on the Syr-Darya, Amu-Darya and p.p. Tejen and Murgab. Isolated nesting sites are found in Transcaucasia (Armenia), in the upper reaches of the Yenisei (Tuva Republic), in Iran and Afghanistan.
In spring, ducks arrive at nesting sites later than many other ducks. They prefer to stay on brackish lakes. At a great distance, the white-headed duck can be distinguished by its white head and long tail, which it holds up while swimming.
When flying, the duck often flaps its wings; they are very short in comparison with the size of the body. The flight is very fast, but the duck is unable to make sharp turns,
soar up. The duck can take off only from the water, while it makes a gradual run through the water. When landing, it also slides for some time on the surface of the water. When approaching a person, cutthroats take off reluctantly, preferring to swim away or dive. They walk very badly on the ground.
The displaying of drakes of the duck is distinguished by some peculiar features. They swim around the duck, raising and spreading their tail like a fan, inflate their chest and hit it with their beak. Dropping into the water, with a quick movement, they raise splashes with a fountain.
The nest is arranged near the water itself, so that, descending from it, they do not take off, but swim away or dive. They build their own nest or occupy strangers - coots, crested ducks. At this time they stay on the lakes. The molting process of these ducks has not been studied. Moly ducks that have lost the ability to fly winter in sea bays, in large open water bodies: in the southeast of the Caspian Sea, on Murgab and Tejen, outside our borders in India, in the lower reaches of the Nile, etc.
The whitehead feeds mainly on vegetable food, seeds and leaves of pondweed, hara, vallisneria, reeds, etc., as well as mollusks, insects, and crustaceans.
Savka has such a peculiar appearance that it is difficult to confuse her with someone. The long tail and short wings make it completely different from other ducks. The unique image is complemented by variegated coloring.
Particularly interesting is the male duck in nuptial attire.
The head of the bird is white, with a black "cap", in the body color there are dark red, brown, brown and reddish-ocher colors. The tail of stiff feathers provocatively sticks up vertically. Special mention should be made of the beak: it is bright blue and strongly swollen at the base. For this, in some languages, the duck is called the blue-nosed duck.
The female is colored much more modestly: her plumage is dark brown, there are white stripes on her cheeks, and her beak is gray.
SAVE THE STEPPE DUCK
Savka is nowhere numerous. The number of pairs of this rare and poorly studied bird in some habitats reaches tens at best.
Only four countries can boast of a relatively large number of deadheads:, and, moreover, a fifth of the entire world population lives in Kazakhstan. The main reasons for this situation, as in many other species, are the destruction of habitats and extermination by poachers. Although the white-headed duck is listed in all possible Red Books, not all hunters know what it looks like. In addition, this duck lives in steppes and semi-deserts, where lakes often become shallow, which also negatively affects its numbers. This situation, of course, needs to be changed, and the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan undertook this in 2013. By the way, it is the duck that is depicted on the emblem of this organization. 45 lakes where this duck lives or can live have already been described in detail, counts of its numbers have been carried out, and work has begun to educate the local population. It can be hoped that through the efforts of scientists, this bird will cease to be disappearing.
UNDERWATER DINING
By its behavior, the white-headed duck is typically a diving duck. She dives magnificently, without sound and splash, as if drowning in water. Having swum so 30-40 m, the duck emerges and immediately plunges again. In case of danger or strong excitement, the bird may sink a little - so that only the very top of the back is visible above the water.
The cutthroat feeds mainly on seeds and leaves of aquatic plants, but does not disdain small mollusks and other aquatic invertebrates. She especially loves the larvae of twitching mosquitoes, which are scientifically called chironomids, and in everyday life - bloodworms.
BETWEEN THE LAKE AND THE SKY
The white-headed duck is a truly aquatic bird; it almost never comes out on land. He does not like to fly and rises to the wing after a long takeoff run and only when absolutely necessary. It flies fast and straight, and in flight makes a very strange impression, since the wings of this duck are very short - much shorter than those of birds similar in size.
Despite this, the ducks are migratory. The Kazakh population winters in the Caspian Sea, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The white-headed duck arrives at the nesting places later than other ducks, in April, when young greenery is already growing on the reservoirs. Birds start building nests even later, in May or early June. The most recent clutches are made in early July, however, it is possible that they are repeated, laid aside to replace those who died or were ruined.
The requirements for the nesting site of the blue-nosed duck are quite strict: it needs fresh or salt lakes with extensive reed beds, bogs and a large mirror of open water. It is there, on the border of reed beds, that the bird builds its floating nests.
SHORT CHILDHOOD
The eggs of the duck are much larger than those of other ducks. A full clutch most often consists of 5-6 eggs and can be equal in weight to the bird itself. Perhaps this was the reason for the curious phenomenon: the female duck does not incubate eggs as diligently as other ducks, and never covers them with fluff. According to some observations, it warms future chicks for only a few days, after which the embryos develop on their own. At least one experiment, carried out on eggs taken from the nest, ended successfully: they lay without any heating for about a week and healthy chicks hatched from them.
Interestingly, even newborn puffballs have stiff tail feathers and hold them vertically upwards, like adults. Chicks are generally born quite large and independent: they are almost immediately able to swim and dive. The mother takes care of the kids for a short time. During the day, she hides with her brood in thick reed supports, and at night she swims out to feed in open spaces. After 2-3 weeks, not yet fledged chicks enter an independent life. Sometimes they cluster into "kindergartens", which can have up to 75 ducklings.
The exact lifespan of the duck is unknown. Scientists suggest that, like other ducks, in ideal conditions she is able to live up to 20 years, although this, of course, does not happen in nature.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF
Class: birds.
Order: Anseriformes.
Family: duck Genus: ducks.
Type: duck.
Latin name: Oxyura leucocephala.
Size: body length - 43-48 cm, wingspan - 62-70 cm.
Weight: 500-900 g.
Coloration: red-brown, male has a white head and a blue beak.