Maned Duck
Chenonetta jubata· 鸭科(3 photos)
Maned Duck
44-50 cm; span to 80 cm. Handsome, brown-necked pale grey duck with two black stripes along back. Male: small black 'mane'. Female: paler brown head with two pale stripes separated by eye. Walks easily: short bill and longish neck and legs give it the look of a small, fine goose. Camps by day on bare banks of dams; perches on dead logs, branches. Dabbles in shallows, often upending; feeds in grasslands, irrigated crops. Flocks fly in random order: note black belly and tail, grey, dark-tipped wings with conspicuous white trailing panel. Flight easy and swift as birds weave through woodland.
- Other name
- Australian Wood Duck, Maned Duck or Goose.
- Voice
- female: loud, long-drawn, rising, nasal 'gnow?'; male: shorter, higher. Staccato chattering from flocks at rest or feeding.
- Habitat
- grasslands, pastures, open woodlands, farm dams, lakes, wetlands, flooded pastures, coastal inlets, bays, sewage ponds, crops, ricefields, town parks.
- Breeding
- Sept.-Nov. in s. Aust.; after rain elsewhere.
- Nest
- of down; in hollow, over, or far from, water.
- Eggs
- 9-11; cream-white.
- Range & Status
- Aust. and Tas.: widespread. Has benefited greatly from farming and creation of dams. Sedentary, dispersive. Vagrant NZ.
