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Having received a number of enquiries about Baer's Pochard I was pleased to hear of a sighting of 2 birds at Nong Bong Khai near Chiang Saen, in Chiang Rai province - probably the only reliable site for the species in Thailand.

These 2 Baer's Pochard were in the company of 2 other diving ducks which were sleeping but identified as Ferruginous Ducks, and were reported to have been present since the 4th November.

This observation is earlier than most other previous records of Baer's Pochard in Thailand, but it may be that lack of observation has meant under-recording, although it is known that the species is in severe decline: .Birdlife International.

Nick Upton, 7th November 2007, from information on Mick Davies' Yonok Wetlands Project website.

Finally, a few Baer's Pochard have been sighted this winter. Predictably they turned up at Nong Bong Khai near Chiang Saen, in Chiang Rai province, with 3 seen on the 3rd of January and a single male on the 21st January, both times in the company of Common Pochard and Ferruginous Ducks. Although this site seems to remain reliable for wintering birds it illustrates the continuing trend for ever decreasing numbers to be seen.

Birdlife International rate the species as Vulnerable, although this must surely be up for review with a "small, rapidly declining population".

Get to Nong Bong Khai next January and see it while you can!

Wetlands International have just published their Waterbirds Population Estimates - Fourth Edition, available for £25. Buying this book will support the work of Wetlands International and will, perhaps, in some small way help in the conservation of species such as Baer's Pochard. Visit their website for the full details.

Ornithologists are concerned about a possible sharp decline in numbers of the globally threatened Baer’s Pochard Aythya baeri. This was the alarming speculation from recent discussions on the OrientalBirding email newsgroup. The topic was raised after the 2005 WWF survey of the Yangtze River basin, China, recorded just eight Baer’s Pochards among the total 636,000 waterbirds counted.

Reports of Baer’s Pochard in Thailand have plummeted, from several hundred birds regularly wintering in the late 1980s, to just a handful in recent years. In Bangladesh, where the two major wintering sites, Hakaluki Haor and Tangua Haor, held about 700 and 1,700 birds as recently as 1992 and 1993 respectively, none have been seen by visiting birdwatchers at the former site in the last two winters.

In South Korea the species has always been uncommon and is apparently getting scarcer – so much so that it is now recorded barely annually.

The species is also missing from its traditional passage sites. Baer’s Pochard was regularly recorded by birdwatchers on passage in China’s Hebei and Beijing provinces, but none were reported there in 2003.

However, the species is known to fluctuate greatly in numbers according to water level changes, and so its absence (or reduced numbers at former sites) might mean that birds have simply moved to other locations, making more surveys a priority.

Current estimates put the world population of this Vulnerable species at fewer than 20,000 individuals. It is possible that this figure could even be lower – with less than 10,000 mature Baer's Pochard remaining.