Cotton teal spotted in Xiamen, SE China's Fujian

A female cotton teal, a small perching duck under second-class state protection in China, swims in a pond at a park in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province. (People's Daily Online/Chen Bo)

A cotton teal, a small perching duck under second-class state protection in China, was recently seen swimming and foraging in a pond at a park in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province.

It was a female cotton teal, said Chen Hao, deputy director of Xiamen Birdwatching Association.

The species tends to live in rivers, lakes, ponds, and marshes, and mainly feeds on aquatic and terrestrial plants, as well as insects, worms and small fish.