La gadwall belongs to the order Anseriformes, family Anatidae, water birds known as ducks. It is included in the group of “surface ducks”, which immerse only the head to feed, without going under the water completely. There gadwall it has medium-large body dimensions (length between 46 and 56 cm) and the sexes are morphologically distinct. The male has an elegant grayish 'dress' with black tail coverts and undertail (evident when in the water, even at a certain distance), brown wing coverts and a white spot on the wings, evident both when in flight is stationary; the beak is gray and the legs are yellow-orange. The female, on the other hand, is brownish, very similar to that of other species of ducks, to which it is often accompanied, however distinguishable by the white and not brown abdomen (as instead happens in Codon e Mallard) and with a shorter tail (compared to the Codon) and the orange stripes on the sides of the beak. In both sexes there is an evident white wing mirror. Very elegant in bearing and swimming, the gadwall it has a very agile but not very linear flight, with abrupt swerves and rapid wing beats; the pointed shape of the wings allows to distinguish it in flight from the Germano. Flying flocks have a disordered formation. It is often observed in mixed groups with mallards, but, in some areas of its reproductive range, the Gadwall it nests inside large colonies of gulls and terns.
CANAPIGLIA: Habitat and distribution area
Both during the breeding season and in winter, this is the Gadwall it avoids the sea and brackish and turbulent waters, preferring open stretches of water (especially lake basins), with shallow waters rich in vegetation, which is its primary nourishment. There gadwall it nests on the ground, no more than 20 m from the water. It feeds by swimming on the surface of the water and collecting floating vegetation uprooted from the bottom by other species. It breeds in North America and Eurasia, in the mid-latitudes of the temperate and Mediterranean zones, a little further south than other ducks. The wintering area affects, among other things, central-southern Europe and northern and tropical Africa (Sudan and Cameroon). The eastern and northern contingents are migratory, the others mostly sedentary; individuals from Northern Europe winter mainly in the areas of the North Sea, while those from Central Europe and Russia head towards the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean (Fornasari et al., 1992). In Italy the gadwall it is above all a regular migratory and wintering species (localized breeder); in the cold season it usually stops mainly in the humid areas of the lower and upper Adriatic, where there are also extremely limited breeding populations. In Italy the individuals ringed are few: in some places (Friuli, Liguria, Emilia and Tuscany) young people ringed have been recaptured in England, Poland, Germany and former Czechoslovakia; the autumn pass takes place in October-November, the spring one in March-April.
CANAPIGLIA: Population size and trend
The European breeding populations have been estimated in a number of pairs between 70.000 and 120.000. Throughout the western Palearctic, the species has shown a tendency towards numerical increase and expansion of the range, starting from the last century. A significant decrease, highlighted during the period 1970-1990, however, concerns the Russian and Eastern European breeding contingents, which constitute the largest share of the European presences (about 75%). There are about 75.000 individuals wintering in the Mediterranean regions and in the Black Sea, a number that tends to decrease compared to the 70s (Tucker & Heath, 1994). gadgets only about fifty pairs nest (reported only in some humid areas of Emilia Romagna and in the Venetian lagoon) and winter a few thousand individuals (6000-8000; Brichetti & Fracasso, 2003); from the surveys of the INFS the Italian populations are increasing (+ 8,6% per year between 1990 and 2000; Baccetti et al., 2002).
CANAPIGLIA: Conservation and management
La Gadwall it is considered in an unfavorable state of conservation in Europe, due to the large numerical decline of the eastern populations; the degree of overall threat is only of “vulnerable species”, due to the condition of stability or numerical increase that is recorded in other European countries. The breeding population is included in the Italian Red List as “critically” threatened. Like many other species related to aquatic habitats, the Gadwall it is particularly sensitive to the reduction of the extension of wetlands and to anthropic disturbance, which influence not only nesting, but also the migratory flow. The progressive desertification of habitats, the increase in eutrophication phenomena (increase in the concentration of nutrients due to discharges) in the main water basins and the increase in disturbance by man in wetlands seem to be the main causes of the decrease in gadwall in the eastern portions of the range (Tucker & Heath, 1994). Due to the particular sensitivity of the Gadwall to the disturbance, the need to establish refuge areas is a priority, in particular where large numbers of individuals are concentrated during the cold season; furthermore, since shallow waters are the first to freeze during severe winters, it is important to create a network of shelters in the most important sites (Tucker & Heath, 1994).
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