Rhodonessa caryophyllacea (Pink-headed Duck)

[Sebbe]

Re:wild is supporting expedition team leader Richard Thorns to plan another expedition in 2022, this time to set camera traps in search of evidence that the flashy duck is still out there.

www.rewild.org/lost-species/top-25-most-wanted-lost-species

[Melanie]

Richard Thorns has never give up the search for the Pink-headed duck though he was always unsuccessful. The main problem at the moment is that the political situation in Myanmar makes it almost impossible for ornithologists or birders to organize expeditions to Myanmar

[Sebbe]

Documenting the bird collection in the State Museum, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh, India).

An important discovery of this study was the re-location of a mounted specimen of the Pink-headed Duck Rhodonessa caryophyllacea that had been mislabelled as a ‘Spotted billed duck’ [246]. The original specimen could not have been misidentified; rather, its original label might have been misplaced, and subsequently it was wrongly labelled. Reid mentioned about a specimen of the Pink-headed Duck in one of his letters to Hume, ‘Our Lucknow Museum has a specimen of the Pink-headed Duck, which Dr. Bonavia probably purchased in the Lucknow market. I have not myself been able to obtain a specimen; but in December last, I saw two of them on a jheel at Rahimabad, about 25 miles from Lucknow. I watched them through my binoculars for a considerable time, but failed to get a shot at them’ (Reid 1879: 418). This confirms that a specimen must have been procured before 1879. It is hard to confirm if it’s the same specimen, as Reid (1886, 1890) records three skins taken from the Lucknow area, in both his catalogues.. Interestingly, when Sálim Ali listed the specimens of this species in the world museums (Ali 1960), he failed to include these specimens. Thus, this specimen may have been misplaced by the year 1960 and hence evaded Ali’s attention. Presently, the specimen lacks the peculiar pale pink colour compared to other museum specimens of Pink-headed Duck; it had faded or bleached with time due to extended exposure to light. However, it was confirmed as a male of the species from photographs (Kristof Zyskowski, in email dated 22 May 2015), based on its black ventral colouration, sharp demarcation between the black and pale colouration on the neck, and pale bill. This could be a bird in eclipse, or immature plumage, since there is some darkish shading on the head.

www.indianbirds.in/

[koeiyabe]

"Atlas of Extinct Animals (in Japanese)" by Radek Maly (2022)

[Sebbe]

A checklist of the birds of West Bengal, India.

Pink-headed Duck Rhodonessa caryophyllacea: Historically resident but now extinct. Multiple specimens obtained in the 19th century from the ‘Calcutta Market’ exist in various museums or were once examined in hand. They include two females obtained by Blyth between 1843 and 1847 (Blyth 1852:304), a specimen taken in 1876 (MNHN#MO-1881--1312), a pre1881 female specimen (MNHN#MO-1880--579), a male taken in February 1888 (UMZC#12/Ana/54/a/3), another undated specimen (SMF#17296), a female (NHMUK#1889.4.3.11) collected in January 1865 by J. Anderson (Salvadori 1895:63), another (NHMUK#1894.6.1.129) procured on 07 March 1879 by Hume (Salvadori 1895:63), one (BNHS#15265) obtained on 12 December 1899 by H. J. Walton (Abdulali 1968:426), and another female specimen (NHMUK#1949.WHI.1.6166) collected in August 1894. The last, apparently, is not present in NHMUK and was registered in error with a note that the same is with Indian Museum; interestingly, ZSI#21494 matches the month, year and locality of collection. As per the ZSI catalogue, there are nine specimens collected between 1866 and 1899 from the market, with an additional six with just ‘Calcutta’ recorded, probably also from the market. At least six of the 15 specimens still exist in the collection. While some of these specimens may have been brought from outside WB, it is rather unlikely that all of them originated from Bihar, Assam, or Bangladesh. H. Reilly apparently shot four or five in the Maldah District, and his brother had shot one previously as well (Hume & Marshall 1879:174). There is also an egg from Maldah in NHMUK with year catalogued as 1898. In addition, there is a set of six eggs (ZSI#14081) from Bardhaman [=Burdwan] collected by Reilly on 05 October 1882. Pink-headed Duck has also been sight recorded from Chhora jheel near Galsi (23.343°N, 87.685°E), Purba Bardhaman District, in 1939–40 (Jameson 1969:10), although this record is considered unconfirmed (Hume 2018). The wetlands north of Ganga in the Bihar-Bengal region are generally considered breeding strongholds for this species; hence, we included the species in our checklist.

indianbirds.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IB_20_4_MannaETAL_WestBengalChecklist.pdf