I want a new duck

[dragoness_e]

Yesterday, we saw a new duck at the park, one that looked wild, but not immediately identifiable.


This morning, I identified our shy, mysterious stranger as a Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis). They are actually somewhat rare in the United States; their normal habitat is the coasts of Mexico and further South (like the Amazon basin), though according to Wikipedia, their range has been increasing in the U.S.







Compare with the domestic Muscovy Duck on the right for size.

Comments

[nightwind69.livejournal.com]

Ooops. The above was me. :) I forgot that at work I get logged out whenever I close the browser. :p

[dragoness-e.livejournal.com]

Woot! Thank you. Half the fun is having nice clear photographs to identify them with; I love my Canon digital! It makes it so much easier than trying to remember vague details. I've identified wild ducks in the photos that I didn't even notice at the time I took the pictures. (e.g., the Northern Shovelers in the swamp exhibit pond).

What's hard is identifying domestic duck and goose breeds, since there are few "field guide" websites to domestic breeds.