Mo Ganji: Baer’s Pochard | Baers Moorente | Aythya baeri | No. 024/250 from work group 8/99

Baer’s Pochard | Baers Moorente | Aythya baeri

Mo Ganji’s single line approaches Baer’s pochard by tracing a calm, essential silhouette — a pared-down gesture that hints at the duck’s head without depicting the bird in full. As in much of Ganji’s work, the reduction of detail is not a loss but a method: by removing the superfluous, the line brings the being into focus in its most distilled presence as a continous part of nature.

Aythya baeri is a diving duck native to East and Southeast Asia. Once relatively widespread, it has undergone one of the most severe declines recorded among waterfowl. The species is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List. Remaining populations are now extremely small and fragmented, primarily in parts of China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Thailand. Breeding areas have contracted sharply, and only a fraction of former wintering sites still support the species.

The main drivers of decline include extensive wetland loss, drainage of breeding lakes, agricultural expansion, pollution, hunting, and disturbance. Hybridisation with other Aythya species may also complicate recovery. Because Baer’s pochard relies on shallow wetlands and lakes with abundant vegetation, the rapid transformation of these habitats has left the species with few secure refuges.

Ganji’s single-line rendering does not illustrate these pressures. Instead, it offers a moment of clarity — a quiet outline through which the essence of the bird can be acknowledged. The simplicity of the stroke stands in contrast to the complex challenges facing the species, inviting viewers to reflect on what remains when a once-common presence becomes rare.