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Marsh bird ID in South Austin (1 Viewer)

austexican

Well-known member
Three or four colleagues and I were taking a smoke break today at our office a mile or two south of Ladybird Lake in Austin. We all remarked that we had not seen this species of bird before. We were no more than thirty feet from the pair and observed them closely for about fifteen minutes.

The birds had an orange duckbill. The back was grayish brown and the head a similar color but somewhat lighter. The neck was long and slender and pale. The underside of the body was pale. The wings were similar to the back in color. In flight, the wings showed white flashes. The legs were long and somewhat stilt-like with a color similar to the bill, but a paler shade of orange. The body was not as bulky as duck's body but the overall size of the bird was similar to a duck except that this bird stood taller.

Any ideas on what species of bird this could be?
 
I am looking at images I pulled up from Google. Could be Black-bellied Whistling-duck. I am not familiar with that species. I am thinking the bird I saw had more pale coloration on the neck and belly. Is that characteristic of a juvenile of the species?
 
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