Marbled Teal (or Marbled Duck if you prefer) was one of my target birds when I first started to visit SW Spain regularly. Leaving aside odd records from elsewhere in southern Europe and a population in Armenia and Azerbaijan, as a breeding species it is restricted to Spain (and almost exclusively to Anadalucia and, to a lesser degree, Valencia). It's an odd dabbling duck in which, unusually, the sexes are very similar and which lacks a speculum (a colourful band on the secondaries). They seem to like shallow pools with much fringing and submerged vegetation. They usually nest on the ground near bushes or in thick vegetation, but, remarkably, in Spain they sometimes on the thatched roofs of reed huts!
Its history is one of a sad decline largely reflecting the disappearance of the large marshes which they once inhabited. This was caused by both natural causes such as fluctuations in rainfall and man made problems such as increasing drainage and water abstraction. In Andalucia its stronghold was and remains the marshes of the lower Guadalquivir valley. In 1900, several thousand birds still bred and it's said that in 1910 an astonishing 3,000 Marbled Teal eggs were collected in a single day! These eggs represent a greater investment by the birds than usual since they're comparatively large and an average clutch of 10-11 eggs is roughly equal to the duck's weight! Perhaps not surprisingly, by mid-century numbers had crashed to 100-500 pairs and today, despite some recovery in the 1980s, hovers between 30 and 50 pairs. These birds are concentrated around Brazo del Este and Veta la Palma; both, but particularly the latter, are distant from my base in Alcala and access to Veta la Palma is restricted. Hence, I was delighted when I found that Codo de la Esparraguera along the Guadalquivir just beyond Algaida pinewoods often harboured a small population of the species. One of the pools here had the sort of shallow water, floating vegetation and dense fringe of reeds that looked textbook habitat for this species.
Six Marbled Teal at Codo de la Esparraguera It was here that I saw my first Marbled Teal. Most of the Codo de la Esparraguera is taken up by a fish farm and embankments divide it into separate pools. The first of these is a narrow triangle shaped pool which, at the acute angle of the enclosure nearest the road was rather silted up with a good growth of reeds (a). Marbled Teal like to conceal themselves amongst the clumps of reedy vegetation and can sometimes be hard to spot. In subsequent years I found them here regularly including a party of at least eight birds in spring 2011. The photos I took at the time gives some idea of this habitat.
Marbled Teal
Deep ditches excavated either side of what had been prime Marbled Teal habitat Returning in 2013, I was devastated to discover that this wild little corner had been almost entirely destroyed. A deep ditch had been dug along the perimeter of the pool grubbing out almost all of the cover and leaving a long, low muddy levee parallel to the road behind which a few sad tufts of reed remained. It seems unlikely the ducks will be so easy to find after this wanton vandalism even if they may still be concealed in some out of the way corner.
Flamingos from the Algaida-Trebujena road Continuing towards Trebujena the pools are generally more open, but with a handful of small islands where Marbled Teals sometimes be seen. In 2012 I had one with several ducklings here, so perhaps all is not lost. The final pool – best viewed from a gateway (b) – is often overgrown making seeing ducks problematical. (Alternatively, perhaps, I'll finally discover the site near Cadiz university campus where they're said to be found!) The pools along the Trebujena road often has large numbers of Red-crested Pochard, Flamingos, Spoonbills and, when shallow, waders. It's also a likely place to see Great White Egret.
Black-winged Stilts
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