From Opus

Photo by gigo
Location: Miami, Florida, USA

Dendrocygna bicolor

[edit] Identification

L. 18-21" (46-53 cm)
A long-legged, long-necked, goose-like duck.

• Body mainly tawny
• White stripe on side
• Dark wings
• White rump and undertail coverts

The name "fulvous" refers to its tawny color.

[edit] Distribution

Southern USA to Argentina; eastern Africa, Madagascar and southern Asia.

Resident in southern California, coastal Texas and Louisiana, and southern Florida. Although Fulvous Whistling-Ducks in North America breed only in California, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, they sometimes wander. Small flocks have turned up as far away as British Columbia and Nova Scotia.

[edit] Taxonomy

Monotypic.

This species was formerly known as the "Fulvous Tree Duck."

[edit] Habitat

Freshwater lakes and reservoirs, rice fields, freshwater marshes, wet meadows, and lagoons.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

These long-legged ducks do most of their feeding on land, eating green grass, seeds, and acorns.

[edit] Breeding

12-15 buff-white eggs in a shallow cup of grass or a well-woven basket of reeds in a marsh. Sometimes several females lay in the same nest.

[edit] External Links

• View more images of this species on Orientalbirdimages