Baer's pochard females of Baer's pochard and the ferruginous duck are quite similar, but that holds true for the females of almost all "Aythya" species. Eclipse males resemble females, but retain the white eye. Formerly classified as a vulnerable species by the IUCN, recent research shows that its numbers are decreasing more and more rapidly. It was consequently uplisted to endangered status in 2008. In 2012, it was further uplisted to critically endangered. Between 1987 and 2007, there were only eleven reports of groups of 100+ birds in mainland China. A recent census by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) China of Hubei province
Featherless bird-riddle Featherless bird-riddle The Featherless bird-riddle is an international riddle type about a snowflake. In the nineteenth century, it attracted considerable scholarly attention because it was seen as a possible reflex of ancient Germanic riddling, arising from magical incantations. But although the language of the riddle is reminiscent of European charms, later work, particularly by Antti Aarne, showed that it occurred widely throughout Europe─particularly central Europe─and that it is therefore an international riddle type. Archer Taylor concluded that 'the equating of a snowflake to a bird and the sun to a maiden without hands is an elementary idea that cannot yield