Pink-headed duck – Rhodonessa caryophyllacea

The Pink neck Net is a species of the family Anatidae. It is a bird that may be classified as extinct.

The Great Duck is slender, leggy, armed with a long neck. The male is black with greenish reflections and white feathers. The nape, the neck and  the head are bright pink, the beak is pinkish. Their cry is a low whistle. The female is smaller, with identical plumage, but clearer; the head is white-pink, the beak is gray, reddish at the base, the call is a “quack” rather low.

Their total length is 60 cm. Discreet species, loving refuge offered by the dense vegetation where it retired. Often in small groups, it can be sometimes seen in groups of 30 to 40 individuals.

It is nocturnal and/or crepuscular. They live in forested wetlands in plains with a very dense vegetation. They are present in floodplains. Its former range included the deltas of the Ganges, North East India, Bangladesh and Burma and Nepal. Today it seems only confined in northern Burma.

The main threat today is the conversion of wetlands into agricultural areas. The species has always been considered rare and the remaining population is extremely small, hence its classification as a species in critical danger of extinction.