We have studied the diurnal time budget of a breeding female of the Shelduck Tadorna tadorna (focal method) in sebkhet Oulad Amara wilaya of Khenchela Algeria in 2004. The study shows that the main activities are: feeding, incubation and preening. Sleeping is made during the incubation period. The female is often in the den except some visits to the feeding territory during the day. The mean time allocated by each activity is: 19.98 %, 75.67 % and 4.33 % for feeding, incubation and preening respectively.