The species favours deep wetlands, fresh or brackish waters, rich in fringing vegetation – primarily large lakes and lagoons; less often, river deltas, estuaries and smaller lakes are occupied. Patchily distributed in C, S and SE Europe, the main breeding range is from Black and Caspian Seas E to C Asia (Carboneras, Kirwan, 2020).
The European population largely concentrated in SW Russia (Keller et al. 2020).
Intra-European/N African partial migrant – it winters in the Mediterranean basin, around Black and Caspian Seas, иn C Europe as well. Some populations relatively sedentary.
Not globally threatened with unknown population trend in Europe (BirdLife International 2021).