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gemfyreThis is going to be a long edition. I bet you didn't know that there are TEN species of native duck that can be found in the Perth Metro area. I have seen all bar one at Herdsman Lake (actually, on one lucky day I got all 10 in my 1 hour lunch break, this is why I love Herdsman Lake so damn much). I was pretty surprised to discover this when I started birding. I'd know the Pacific Black since I was kid and had known the Australian Wood Duck for almost as long. I also knew that Grey Teal existed but I wasn't too sure what they looked like. So, without further ado!
ANAS GENUS
Pacific Black Duck -Anas superciliosa
Photo by Gemfyre of Birdforum (yeah, that's me)
The Pacific Black ("PB") is your standard duck around Perth. They are common, you can find them on pretty much any body of freshwater, and they're not too wary of people. Now they're not black, and in Perth they're not on the Pacific. You can tell a black duck by:
- Brown, mottled plumage.
- A stripe through the eye and a pale eyebrow (the "superciliosa" mentioned in the Latin name).
- An irridescent green/blue speculum under the wing. The speculum is that patch of shiny feathers you'll spot on the sides of a Pacific Black Duck.
- Brown legs.
Now, I mention brown legs because on urban lakes you're likely to come across PBs with orange legs. These are either feral Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) or hybrid Pacific Black/Mallard ducks. Unfortunately many people just dump their pet ducks (and geese) on local lakes when they no longer want them and they get along quite happily. Mallards and PBs are closely related and freely interbreed, thus diluting the gene pool of Pacific Black Ducks. Female Mallards are almost identical to PBs apart from the bright orange legs. Male wild-type mallards have yellow bills, green heads and grey bodies, but domestic mallards vary wildly in colour and size. Another feral duck you'll often find on local lakes is the Muscovy - he's the one with the red, warty skin around his eyes. If I had my way all these feral ducks would be removed from local wetlands, but it seems too many people complain and councils don't do anything about it.
Grey Teal - Anas gracilis
Photo by Julien of Birdforum
I don't know about you but to me Grey Teal are very "cute" little ducks. Not only do they look cute, but their call sounds like they're laughing, which only adds to their appeal. The Grey Teal is also very common and if you take the time to look and ID all the ducks at a wetland, it's likely you'll find Grey Teal among them. How do you tell a Grey Teal?
- Pale brown, scalloped plumage.
- Red eyes.
- No head markings (they're just a bit darker on the top of the head than the bottom).
If you're in Perth, and you see a duck that fits this description you can pretty safely assume it's a Grey Teal. But of course one duck occasionally pops up that really confuses the issue and that is...
Chestnut Teal - Anas castanea
Photo by Jimmclean of Birdforum
I have only ever seen Chestnut Teal on the river at Alfred Cove and on Lake McClarty, which is east of Mandurah. They are not common. The males are a cinch to pick:
- Chestnut chest feathers.
- Irridescent green head.
The females however look JUST LIKE Grey Teal. Field guides will try to point out the differences but buggered if I can see any. Apparently they are slightly darker. That doesn't really help when you don't have a nearby Grey Teal to compare it with. So, enough about Chestnut Teal.
A FEW DUCKS THAT DON'T FIT INTO THE OTHER GROUPS
Australian Wood Duck - Chenonetta jubata
Photo by Rose Fletcher of Birdforum
This photo is awesome. We have a male, a female and a duckling!! Awwww. Wood Ducks are probably the second most abundant duck in the metro area (with clutch sizes as large as 18 ducklings this is no great surprise). Whereas PBs require water to dabble in and get their food, Wood Ducks feed on grass and rarely swim. They're sometimes called "Maned Geese" because some people once thought they looked like geese, and the males especially have a dark "mane" of feathers down the backs of their heads. A few other identifying features:
- Grey bodies and brown heads with mottled chests. Males have a much starker colour scheme, with a more solid grey on their bodies and a darker head.
- Often heard, drawn out, "waaaaaark" call. They seem to get particularly noisy around dusk. When they have ducklings they get pretty agressive too, hissing at and chasing any potential predator.
Australian Shelduck - Tadorna tadornoides
Photo by Davidfree of Birdforum
When I first started noticing Australian Shelducks I assumed they were a feral species due to their size and colourfulness. But they are certainly Aussie natives, being found on most lakes and farm dams. They really can't be mistaken for any other duck you'll see around Perth, so I'll let you know how to tell males from females:
MALES
- Has a white collar, tan chest and fully black head.
FEMALES
- Don't have the really sharp deliniations of colour that the males have. They also have white around the eyes.
You'll usually find them in male/female pairs. Males make a loud "Ow" sound when they call and the females make an oinking sound. Watch a pair when something threatening comes near. You'll see some head flicking and some low oinking and then they seem to decide that yep, it's time to get away from that dog, and they both take off in unison.
Hardhead - Aytha australis
Photo by nightparrot of Birdforum
The Hardhead (also, more sensibly, known as the White-eyed Duck), is the only duck from the Pochard family in Australia. They're the type of duck that (usually) you either don't see any or you see hundreds bobbing about on the water. You'll need binoculars to get a good enough look to ID them, but they do have a few distinctive features:
- White-eye.
- Pale bill tip.
- Chestnut plumage.
- White undertail feathers. This is useful to ID them even if they have their heads hidden under a wing.
I don't know anything else interesting about the Hardhead. I have no idea why the people who decide what to call birds decided to change the sensible White-eyed Duck to Hardhead.
DUCKS WITH WEIRD BILLS
Australasian Shelduck - Anas rhynchotis
I didn't realise that these guys were part of the Anas genus. I think they fit better into "ducks with weird bills", because, well, take a look at it.
Photo by Neil of Birdforum
This is a bill particularly adapted to filter feeding (as is our next duck). Shovellers hang around on lake edges among Pacific Black Duck and Grey Teals. The males are particularly distinctive:
- Peculiar bill.
- Yellow eye.
- Bluish head with a crescent of white in front of the eye.
- Chestnut flanks.
- Rectangular, elongated body.
Females are more drab and brown, but have the same strange shape.
Pink-eared Duck - Malacorhynchus membranaceus
Photo by Julien of Birdforum
The Pink-eared Duck is a real designer bird. It will inevitably be the duck that your mum likes best. Pink-eared ducks stick out like sore thumbs for a few reasons:
- Black and white stripes on the chest and belly.
- Weird looking bill, adapted for filtering out plankton.
- Black patch over the eye.
- Tiny pink patch behind the eye (the pink-ear).
Some people call the Pinkie the "Zebra Duck", which makes a heap more sense. But I refer to them as Pinkies. They breed on drying lakes (the most I ever saw at once was a breeding colony on Lake Claremont, when it had barely any water left in it). When they do vocalise, it's a strange peeping sound.
Freckled Duck - Stictonetta naevosa
Photo by Julien of Birdforum
I really shouldn't have the Frecklie here because it's not at all common. But I'm including it for completeness. Local birdos will go a bit silly when they hear that Freckled Ducks have been sighted on Perth lakes and descend on said lake for a glimpse. Frecklies are the kind of ducks that suddenly appear, and then disappear again for a few years to some mysterious place. They tend to appear at Herdsman Lake every few years, I've seen them twice now. So if you're at Herdsman or Joondalup (where they have also been sighted) at the right time you might get lucky. So, how do you know you've seen a sought-after Freckled Duck?
- Speckled plumage.
- A strange peak on top of the head.
- The bill is very deep at the base. In the males it has a red base.
Be careful that you don't mistake female Blue-billed Ducks for Freckled Ducks (a mistake I used to make often).
STIFF-TAILED DUCKS
No seriously, these are referred to as the stiff-tailed ducks. And indeed they do have stiff feathers in the tail which stick up.
Blue-billed Duck - Oxyura australis
Photo by Julien of Birdforum
If you're at a large, deep water lake, you'll probably see Blue-billed Ducks bobbing on it. They have a habit of hiding their heads beneath their wings as the rest on the water, so you can't see the diagnostic blue-bill, but there are other ways to pick them.
- Blue-bill (but only the males, and they're only really bright in the breeding season).
- Chestnut plumage with black head (in the males, females are a speckledy brown).
- See that tail in the photo? That defines a stiff-tailed duck and a Blue-Bill cannot hide it.
Musk Duck - Biziura lobata
Photo by Gemfyre of Birdforum. Taken at Lake Joondalup, this particular individual would come right to shore for handouts, unusual behaviour for this deepwater duck.
The Musk Duck is a real weirdo, but this also makes it one of the most interesting ducks to watch. First of all, the features:
- Triangular bill.
- Males have a leathery lobe beneath the bill that you can't miss.
- Drab brown, kinda stripy plumage.
- Stiff tail.
- Low profile in the water.
Musk Ducks generally stay out in deeper water and rarely come to land or fly. They are excellent divers and as soon as you get your binoculars on them, under they go (Grebes are also adept at this, more on them in a later post).
The most awesome thing about Muskies is their mating ritual. If you're at a lake or on the river and you hear a strange plonking sound, or a blip like a radar, or a high pitched squeak, you're probably hearing a male Muskie trying to chat up the ladies. They accompany these bizarre noises by puffing out that lobe under their bill, sitting extra low in the water and kicking water over their backs.
Other ducks have been seen around Perth, but these are all vagrants that twitchers go silly over. And thus ends the ducks. Quack quack.
ANAS GENUS
Pacific Black Duck -Anas superciliosa
Photo by Gemfyre of Birdforum (yeah, that's me)
The Pacific Black ("PB") is your standard duck around Perth. They are common, you can find them on pretty much any body of freshwater, and they're not too wary of people. Now they're not black, and in Perth they're not on the Pacific. You can tell a black duck by:
- Brown, mottled plumage.
- A stripe through the eye and a pale eyebrow (the "superciliosa" mentioned in the Latin name).
- An irridescent green/blue speculum under the wing. The speculum is that patch of shiny feathers you'll spot on the sides of a Pacific Black Duck.
- Brown legs.
Now, I mention brown legs because on urban lakes you're likely to come across PBs with orange legs. These are either feral Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) or hybrid Pacific Black/Mallard ducks. Unfortunately many people just dump their pet ducks (and geese) on local lakes when they no longer want them and they get along quite happily. Mallards and PBs are closely related and freely interbreed, thus diluting the gene pool of Pacific Black Ducks. Female Mallards are almost identical to PBs apart from the bright orange legs. Male wild-type mallards have yellow bills, green heads and grey bodies, but domestic mallards vary wildly in colour and size. Another feral duck you'll often find on local lakes is the Muscovy - he's the one with the red, warty skin around his eyes. If I had my way all these feral ducks would be removed from local wetlands, but it seems too many people complain and councils don't do anything about it.
Grey Teal - Anas gracilis
Photo by Julien of Birdforum
I don't know about you but to me Grey Teal are very "cute" little ducks. Not only do they look cute, but their call sounds like they're laughing, which only adds to their appeal. The Grey Teal is also very common and if you take the time to look and ID all the ducks at a wetland, it's likely you'll find Grey Teal among them. How do you tell a Grey Teal?
- Pale brown, scalloped plumage.
- Red eyes.
- No head markings (they're just a bit darker on the top of the head than the bottom).
If you're in Perth, and you see a duck that fits this description you can pretty safely assume it's a Grey Teal. But of course one duck occasionally pops up that really confuses the issue and that is...
Chestnut Teal - Anas castanea
Photo by Jimmclean of Birdforum
I have only ever seen Chestnut Teal on the river at Alfred Cove and on Lake McClarty, which is east of Mandurah. They are not common. The males are a cinch to pick:
- Chestnut chest feathers.
- Irridescent green head.
The females however look JUST LIKE Grey Teal. Field guides will try to point out the differences but buggered if I can see any. Apparently they are slightly darker. That doesn't really help when you don't have a nearby Grey Teal to compare it with. So, enough about Chestnut Teal.
A FEW DUCKS THAT DON'T FIT INTO THE OTHER GROUPS
Australian Wood Duck - Chenonetta jubata
Photo by Rose Fletcher of Birdforum
This photo is awesome. We have a male, a female and a duckling!! Awwww. Wood Ducks are probably the second most abundant duck in the metro area (with clutch sizes as large as 18 ducklings this is no great surprise). Whereas PBs require water to dabble in and get their food, Wood Ducks feed on grass and rarely swim. They're sometimes called "Maned Geese" because some people once thought they looked like geese, and the males especially have a dark "mane" of feathers down the backs of their heads. A few other identifying features:
- Grey bodies and brown heads with mottled chests. Males have a much starker colour scheme, with a more solid grey on their bodies and a darker head.
- Often heard, drawn out, "waaaaaark" call. They seem to get particularly noisy around dusk. When they have ducklings they get pretty agressive too, hissing at and chasing any potential predator.
Australian Shelduck - Tadorna tadornoides
Photo by Davidfree of Birdforum
When I first started noticing Australian Shelducks I assumed they were a feral species due to their size and colourfulness. But they are certainly Aussie natives, being found on most lakes and farm dams. They really can't be mistaken for any other duck you'll see around Perth, so I'll let you know how to tell males from females:
MALES
- Has a white collar, tan chest and fully black head.
FEMALES
- Don't have the really sharp deliniations of colour that the males have. They also have white around the eyes.
You'll usually find them in male/female pairs. Males make a loud "Ow" sound when they call and the females make an oinking sound. Watch a pair when something threatening comes near. You'll see some head flicking and some low oinking and then they seem to decide that yep, it's time to get away from that dog, and they both take off in unison.
Hardhead - Aytha australis
Photo by nightparrot of Birdforum
The Hardhead (also, more sensibly, known as the White-eyed Duck), is the only duck from the Pochard family in Australia. They're the type of duck that (usually) you either don't see any or you see hundreds bobbing about on the water. You'll need binoculars to get a good enough look to ID them, but they do have a few distinctive features:
- White-eye.
- Pale bill tip.
- Chestnut plumage.
- White undertail feathers. This is useful to ID them even if they have their heads hidden under a wing.
I don't know anything else interesting about the Hardhead. I have no idea why the people who decide what to call birds decided to change the sensible White-eyed Duck to Hardhead.
DUCKS WITH WEIRD BILLS
Australasian Shelduck - Anas rhynchotis
I didn't realise that these guys were part of the Anas genus. I think they fit better into "ducks with weird bills", because, well, take a look at it.
Photo by Neil of Birdforum
This is a bill particularly adapted to filter feeding (as is our next duck). Shovellers hang around on lake edges among Pacific Black Duck and Grey Teals. The males are particularly distinctive:
- Peculiar bill.
- Yellow eye.
- Bluish head with a crescent of white in front of the eye.
- Chestnut flanks.
- Rectangular, elongated body.
Females are more drab and brown, but have the same strange shape.
Pink-eared Duck - Malacorhynchus membranaceus
Photo by Julien of Birdforum
The Pink-eared Duck is a real designer bird. It will inevitably be the duck that your mum likes best. Pink-eared ducks stick out like sore thumbs for a few reasons:
- Black and white stripes on the chest and belly.
- Weird looking bill, adapted for filtering out plankton.
- Black patch over the eye.
- Tiny pink patch behind the eye (the pink-ear).
Some people call the Pinkie the "Zebra Duck", which makes a heap more sense. But I refer to them as Pinkies. They breed on drying lakes (the most I ever saw at once was a breeding colony on Lake Claremont, when it had barely any water left in it). When they do vocalise, it's a strange peeping sound.
Freckled Duck - Stictonetta naevosa
Photo by Julien of Birdforum
I really shouldn't have the Frecklie here because it's not at all common. But I'm including it for completeness. Local birdos will go a bit silly when they hear that Freckled Ducks have been sighted on Perth lakes and descend on said lake for a glimpse. Frecklies are the kind of ducks that suddenly appear, and then disappear again for a few years to some mysterious place. They tend to appear at Herdsman Lake every few years, I've seen them twice now. So if you're at Herdsman or Joondalup (where they have also been sighted) at the right time you might get lucky. So, how do you know you've seen a sought-after Freckled Duck?
- Speckled plumage.
- A strange peak on top of the head.
- The bill is very deep at the base. In the males it has a red base.
Be careful that you don't mistake female Blue-billed Ducks for Freckled Ducks (a mistake I used to make often).
STIFF-TAILED DUCKS
No seriously, these are referred to as the stiff-tailed ducks. And indeed they do have stiff feathers in the tail which stick up.
Blue-billed Duck - Oxyura australis
Photo by Julien of Birdforum
If you're at a large, deep water lake, you'll probably see Blue-billed Ducks bobbing on it. They have a habit of hiding their heads beneath their wings as the rest on the water, so you can't see the diagnostic blue-bill, but there are other ways to pick them.
- Blue-bill (but only the males, and they're only really bright in the breeding season).
- Chestnut plumage with black head (in the males, females are a speckledy brown).
- See that tail in the photo? That defines a stiff-tailed duck and a Blue-Bill cannot hide it.
Musk Duck - Biziura lobata
Photo by Gemfyre of Birdforum. Taken at Lake Joondalup, this particular individual would come right to shore for handouts, unusual behaviour for this deepwater duck.
The Musk Duck is a real weirdo, but this also makes it one of the most interesting ducks to watch. First of all, the features:
- Triangular bill.
- Males have a leathery lobe beneath the bill that you can't miss.
- Drab brown, kinda stripy plumage.
- Stiff tail.
- Low profile in the water.
Musk Ducks generally stay out in deeper water and rarely come to land or fly. They are excellent divers and as soon as you get your binoculars on them, under they go (Grebes are also adept at this, more on them in a later post).
The most awesome thing about Muskies is their mating ritual. If you're at a lake or on the river and you hear a strange plonking sound, or a blip like a radar, or a high pitched squeak, you're probably hearing a male Muskie trying to chat up the ladies. They accompany these bizarre noises by puffing out that lobe under their bill, sitting extra low in the water and kicking water over their backs.
Other ducks have been seen around Perth, but these are all vagrants that twitchers go silly over. And thus ends the ducks. Quack quack.
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Date: 2009-05-18 11:38 pm (UTC)They have an interesting geometry, too, with their legs set way back, so that when they do come out of the water (there was a particularly bold male at Herdie a few years back, too), they are very
upright - almost penguin like!
They might not do it often, but they can fly very well, or so tagging has shown, it's just that they tend to do it at night, when no-one can see them! And they do prefer to keep to a particular territory, and will stay in the same local for extended periods.