Wandering Whistling Duck
Dendrocygna arcuata· 鸭科(1 photos)
Wandering Whistling Duck
55-61 cm. Posture lower than Plumed Whistling-Duck, swimming and standing. Black crown and nape contrast with plain yellow-buff face and neck: shoulders chestnut; short cream flank plumes. Immature: duller; centre of abdomen paler. Flocks of dozens to thousands; camps on margins of swamps and rivers; feeds in water, dabbling, upending; companies move ahead, diving repeatedly, to depth of 3 m. Flies in whistling mobs, looks dark and richly coloured: chestnut shoulders and underparts, blackish underwing: note trailing black legs.
- Other name
- Diving Whistling-Duck.
- Similar Species
- Plumed Whistling-Duck: taller, paler, with pink bill and legs; brown underwing; white belly.
- Habitat
- well-vegetated lagoons and swamps, flooded grasslands, pools in floodplains, river margins, well-vegetated large dams; occasionally tidal areas.
- Breeding
- Jan.-May.
- Nest
- scrape in ground, lined with grass; in grassland, under bush, vegetation by swamp or some distance away.
- Eggs
- 6-8; cream, smooth.
- Range & Status
- tropical and subtropical n. Aust.: from c. Exmouth Gulf (WA), to se. Q; casual; NSW, Vic., sw. WA. Part-migratory. Also Philippines, Indonesia, PNG and Pacific Is.
- Distribution key to races
- 1. Dendrocygna arcuata australis
