Rostgans St. Gallen

The ruddy shelduck belongs to the shelducks, a group within the waterfowl that combine features of geese and ducks both in appearance and behaviour. Seven species are placed in the genus Tadorna, including the native common shelduck. Historical records show that the ruddy shelduck still bred in Central Europe in the late Middle Ages and probably disappeared from the region during the Little Ice Age. Regular breeding in Germany resumed from the 1960s onwards. The re-colonisation is driven almost entirely by birds that escaped from parks, zoos and private collections. From the late 1970s ruddy shelducks moved from Switzerland into Baden-Württemberg, first settling around Lake Constance and reaching the High Rhine in the late 1980s. Today the strongholds lie in North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, and in several regions the population has multiplied within only a decade.

A species that originally bred in rock crevices and along steep banks, the ruddy shelduck has proved remarkably adaptable. In Central Europe it uses open landscapes with lakes, rivers and wetlands as well as park lakes and the fringes of built-up areas. Nest boxes provided for barn owls or kestrels are often occupied, and so are lofts, niches in buildings and tree cavities. During the breeding season the species is strongly territorial. Pairs defend their territories vigorously against conspecifics and other waterbirds and can displace native cavity nesters and duck species in the process. Studies at Lake Constance and along the High Rhine indicate negative effects on competing species, for instance through occupation of breeding sites and aggression towards female ducks with broods. Outside the breeding season the birds gather at larger waters for moulting and roosting, with assemblies of several hundred individuals on record.

The hunting and protection status of the ruddy shelduck varies across the DACH region and has been adjusted in several countries in recent years. In Germany the species is covered by the Federal Hunting Act and has traditionally been subject to a year-round closed season throughout the country. Individual federal states have introduced or prepared exceptions, for example Bavaria, where a regular open season was set for the first time, while Baden-Württemberg has its own state-level arrangements for managing the species. In Switzerland the ruddy shelduck is in principle protected under the federal hunting and wildlife act, but the cantons are at the same time required to prevent the further spread of non-native species, which allows targeted control measures within cantonal programmes. Please check the current regulations of your federal state or canton for the rules that apply to you.