NEW IMPORTANT STOP-OVER SITES FOR RUDDY SHELDUCK TADORNA FERRUGINEA PALLAS, 1764 (AVES, ANATIDAE) IN SICILY

The Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea PALLAS, 1764 is a species widely distributed in Southeast Europe and central Asia (MACKINNON et al., 2000). Records in N and W Europe (including Northern Italy) mainly involve escapes from captivity since this species of duck is commonly kept in wildfowl collection, private gardens and parks. Despite this, actually, in Sicily the Ruddy Shelduck is considered an irregular migratory and wintering species and the observations must be attributed to the presence of wild individuals (CORSO, 2005). From 2009 to 2017, 67 observations were collected and compared with those included in the available bibliography (CORSO, 2005). The species was observed in 7 differ…