Ruddy Shelducks

[Khandro]

A pair spotted this morning standing in the shallows of the river (Neckar) before they took flight along the water, unmistakeable by their beige colour & white & black wings. I have see a pair before about 3 yeas ago in the same place. They are well north of their normal range, but that isn't unusual says the book.
Nice start to the day :0)

[1ozzy]

Never heard of them, had to ask Google.
Beautiful looking birds, thanks.

Admittedly I first thought how have shelducks annoyed you?

[emmie]

so did i 1ozzy. I have heard of Shelducks, but not Ruddy ones.

[wolf63]

I, too, thought that you had been irritated by some Ducks.

I am plagued by noisy, very noisy Gulls and Pigeons talking loudly most days. They used to drive Frankie (cat) totally nuts.

[rowanwitch]

Make sure you let your county bird recorder know.

[barry1010]

So you're in Germany? Ruddy shelducks are very rarely seen in the UK but are becoming more common in Germany

[Khandro]

There is a continuous waterway from the Black Sea up the Danube to its source which is next to the source of the Neckar heading northwards where it passes 50 metres from my front door!
Famously outlined by Patrick Liegh-Fermor in his 3 books describing his walking it to Istanbul Amazon.com User Recommendation
Perhaps the ducks are refugees from Putin's war :0)

[Khandro]

Since posting this in May, I have sometimes wondered how I could follow rowanwitch's advice & report my sighting, (haven't seen them again). I have been reading an excellent new, highly acclaimed, book called Birds and Us;

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

in which Tim Birkhead mentions a marvellous organisation called eBird

https://ebird.org/home

Great site if you don't know it. I joined up yesterday and registered them, & thanks to an AB search I could get back to the exact date of the sighting, and I also registered a pair of black redstarts seen more recently.

Both the book & the organisation are highly recommended to any birders.