Ferruginous Duck

These birds have nearly disappeared from nature in Israel as breeders, due to the destruction of aquatic habitats. In 2009, the Biblical Zoo began a breeding and reintroduction program with the establishment of the breeding core of four individuals that arrived from the Lille Zoo in France. This group continues to reproduce in the marsh bird aviary.

The pilot began with the release of 9 individuals into the waterfowl lake of the zoo. Although the ducks were released free, they chose to remain in the lake (probably due to the accessibility to food). The zoo team also learned a special method for marking the divers being returned to nature.

The method is adapted to tracking ferruginous ducks that stay almost all the time in the water. Usually, the marking of birds is done on the leg with identification rings that help researchers and ecologists to follow their condition, but in the case of diving birds the identification ring is not suitable. In Portugal, a special method of marking ducks by means of a plastic tag on the bill was developed.

The tag  is personally adapted to each duck and is tied with a special nylon thread to the bill. This tag does not interfere with the duck in daily activity such as breeding or eating, and can be read from a distance, and therefore it reduces the need for catching the ducks, which are very sensitive to stress. The bird department caretakers, who have undergone special training, try to work quickly and skillfully, in order to lower the stress as much as possible.

Like all reintroduction projects, this project is also carried out in cooperation with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. The project is accompanied by research and tracking of the ducks. In an education and awareness-raising program, regarding the need to preserve wet habitats.

This subject is part of a broad campaign of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria and the World Association of Zoos in the years 2025 - 2026.

From 2011 until January 2020, 109 individuals were released: 40 females, 60 males, and 9 individuals without verified sex, and these were released at several sites: the Hula Reserve, the Einot Gibton Reserve, the Tzaria Valley, and Tel Afek. This project apparently has results in the field:  in 2022, 588 ferruginous ducks were counted in the annual waterfowl census of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority – a record number compared to the multi-year average, which between 2012 and 2020 stood at 230 individuals.

We continue every year to receive "greetings" from marked individuals that we have released around the country by means of photographs of birdwatchers, and thus we know that they have managed to establish themselves in the wild.