Musk Duck
Musk Duck
47-72 cm. Male larger. A very strange duck. Male: large, low, broad and dark, with leathery flap under bluntly triangular dark grey bill; stiff tail of 28 feathers. Female: lacks bill-flap. Immature: at first like female. Solitary to large, open, autumn-winter companies. Swims low, like cormorant or even platypus. Submerges smoothly, bringing yabbies, crabs to surface. Dozes on surface with tail spread, fan like. Male in display fans tail forwards over back, expands undertail-coverts like powderpuff; bill raised, bill-flap expanded, rotates slowly in water, throwing foot-splashes with a loud 'k-plonk', simultaneously uttering a grunt and a shrill, far-carrying whistle. Female: soft grunts. Seldom on wing, but in strong breezes flies heavily.
- Other name
- Diver; Steamer.
- Similar Species
- Blue-billed Duck, eclipse male and female: smaller, bill scooped.
- Habitat
- well-vegetated swamps; wetlands, both brackish and fresh; lakes, reservoirs, shallow bays, inlets; occasionally at sea.
- Breeding
- mostly Aug.-Nov.
- Nest
- rough cup of plant stems, lined with down; in cumbungi, rushes, grass on island, under low tea-tree, with canopy of surrounding growth; hole in tree at water level.
- Eggs
- 1-3 (4); green-white, limy; stained brown.
- Range & Status
- s. Aust., from s. Q to Tas. and Bass Strait; e. and ne. SA; coastal s. WA n. to Shark Bay. Sedentary; dispersive when young, and in drought.
