Scientific name:
Tadorna

Natural spread:
Europe, Asia

the fire-goose is close the ducks (swimming-ducks) despite the big, goose-similar body. As one of the most beautiful types of the semi-geese, both sexes draw as adult animals through this almost resembles, colorful plumage from. The body be the more or less iridescent green-black head, the bay breast-bond and the black Handschwingen recognizably white, wide. The beak is more clearly red as the flesh-colored legs and usually carries a beak-hump with the male in the summer. The big steel-green, behind auburn mirror becomes recognizable in the flight at the wing.

Habitat Fire-geese are at home at the Meeresküsten of the restrained widths in Europe and Asia, they also advance deeply on the search of brood-caves into the interior, however, although they prefer salt and Brackwasser. So, one finds it of North-African inner-seas, in the north in Iceland and Lapland, not only in the hinterland of bays and firths but also at the black and at the Kaspischen sea, at the salt-seas of the steppes Zentralasiens and to the Zugzeit. In Germany, fire-geese lasted thinned out at the Lake Constance in cold winters on. The winter-quarters of the Asian population lie in India, South-China and South-Japan.

Reproduction The fire-goose nests in Erdhöhlen, with what it constructions of rabbits normally, more rarely also fox and badger-holes use. On this occasion, it quite claims its Nistplatz opposite the original inhabitants and other place-competitors. Provided no burrows exist, it is based its nest also under shrubs, in high grass, isolated also on trees.

One finds the nests from April to June. they consist of 8-12 white, smooth-stale-y eggs of approximately 80 g substances. Mischgelege of several females even count up to 60 eggs. Eggs are put into the nests of other duck-birds not rare. The female broods alone. The boys hatch after 28-30 days and are led to the water from the cave by both parents directly together. They remain initial in the family-association, the parents leave it middle of June until end July. In this time, up to 100 squabs meet to "kindergartens", of which care is taken by few alto-birds, while the majority of the adult gathers in order to serve molt-places.

Molt-places In the German area between Weser and Elbe-estuary, the big farmhand-sand and other sandbanks are important molt-stations. These sandbanks offer protection against disturbances for up to 100 000 fire-geese from wide sharing of the brood-area since the birds are unairworthy during the swing-molt. These flat-water-zones offer food sufficiently on that occasion, existing from small mussels and cancers, snails and worms, rare is picked up water-plants and insects.