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Ruddy shelduck
सुर्खाब (surkhab)
A rust-orange duck with a pale head, standing on winter sandbanks in pairs rather than crowds.
How to recognise it
Orange body, pale buff head, and big white wing patches in flight. The call is a loud nasal honk carried a long way over water.
Where to see it
Chandigarh
The Chandigarh Bird Club counts Sukhna's waterfowl every year on 12 November, Salim Ali's birthday, and the ruddy shelduck has repeatedly come out on top: 141 of 429 birds in 2020, 32 of 232 in 2025.
Sukhna Lake (in season) · Siswan Dam and Community Reserve (in season)
Dehradun
Asan was designated Uttarakhand's first Ramsar site on 21 July 2020. It regularly supports roughly 2% of the ruddy shelduck's biogeographic population, which is part of why it qualified.
Asan Conservation Reserve (Asan Barrage)
Haridwar
Ten years of waterbird counts on Haridwar's Ganga (2009–2018) recorded a 67 per cent rise in ruddy shelducks at Missarpur ghat, one of the two survey sites alongside the Bhimgoda barrage.
Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve (in season) · Neel Dhara Pakshi Vihar (in season)
Ujjain
Known as chakwa-chakwi, the pair that is separated every night and reunited at dawn. It is one of the oldest images of longing in Indian verse.
Undasa Lake (in season) · Vishnu Sagar Lake (in season)
Varanasi
Known as chakwa-chakwi, the pair that is separated every night and reunited at dawn. It is one of the oldest images of longing in Indian verse.
Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary (in season) · The Ganga by Rowing Boat: Assi to Ramnagar (in season)