No abstract

The Ferruginous duck is a winter visitor and breeding resident in Morocco. The species breeds regularly in several coastal and inland wetlands, with remarkable numbers in some marshlands (Sidi Boughaba, Fouwarate, Bargha, Bas Loukkos, etc.). This duck is listed as near threatened in the IUCN Red List, and its populations have been in decline in many European countries. In Morocco, the national wintering population has known, during the last decade, a strong increase, in both its numbers (from tens to thousands of individuals) and distribution area (from a couple of sites to more than 21 wetlands). The North-West region of Morocco has been hosting regularly, during the last decade, between 31 and 91% of the Moroccan wintering population, which is mainly concentrated in two marshlands: Merja de Fouwarate and Merja de Sidi Boughaba. A small reservoir, Barrage Hassar, recently created in the Centre-Atlantic region, has also been, in recent years, one of the most important wintering sites of the species. 15 wetlands have hosted, at least once during the last decade, more than 1% of the regional population of “West Mediterranean/North and West Africa”. This work is an important step to a better knowledge of the Ferruginous duck’s population. This knowledge is the basis for adopting adequate measures for the conservation of the species at the national and international level.

Ten-year survey of breeding Anatidae of Lake Sidi Boughaba (North-western Marocco) : status, tendencies of change and avenues for future research. A ten years survey of duck species was carried out in the Ramsar site and Important Bird Area (IBA) of Sidi Boughaba. No such survey has ever been conducted before in Morocco to study the change in number of breeding duck species in the country. Overall results have shown the appearance of new breeding species in the site : Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina), Common Pochard (Aythya ferina) and White-Headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala). Other species have become more regular like Gadwall (Anas strepera) and Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca) while the vulnerable Marbled Teal (Marmaronetta angustirostris) and the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) continue to breed in this wetland with numbers that remain stable though the numbers of females with ducklings are decreasing in these two species. The number of breeding ducks species in this wetland is the highest in Morocco and in the Maghreb. The overall results showed that the numbers of Gadwall, Red-crested Pochard, Common Pochard and Ferruginous Duck are markedly increasing following the same expansion patterns at both regional and Mediterranean levels. The initiation of similar researches on other wetlands is essential to assess the abundance of duck populations and indicate trends of this breeding waterfowl group at larger scales.

Due to its ongoing decline, the White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala) is considered “endangered” and is, therefore, included in the IUCN Red List. It has been estimated that the species declined from 100,000 individuals in the early 20th century to only 8,000–13,000 individuals in the early 2000s. In order to investigate the trends and phenology of this species, we conducted fieldwork during the breeding and wintering seasons from 2011 to 2022 in Merja Fouwarate and at Lake Sidi Boughaba in Northwest Morocco. Our data show that the lowest numbers of individuals were observed in September, followed by a gradual increase throughout the autumn, reaching peak levels in the winter months between December and February. These peaks were observed in January at both locations in Merja Fouwarate, with 280 and 314 individuals recorded in 2021 and in 2022, respectively. At lake Sidi Boughaba, the peaks were lower, with 176 individuals recorded in 2021 and 120 individuals in 2022. In contrast, duck numbers declined throughout the spring, reaching their lowest point between March and May. In the course of the eleven-year observation period, the population of the species clearly increased. The population of Merja Fouwarate increased by 14.5 and 3.67 individuals on average each year, while that of Lake Sidi Boughaba increased gradually from 2011 to 2018 before declining in the years that followed.