Namibia: Maccoa Duck or Juv South African Shelduck? (1 Viewer)

[Jacob12]

Hi Everyone,

I was excited to see what I thought were three distant Maccoa Duck outside Windhoek at Avis Dam. However, it's come to my attention that juv Shelducks can appear quite similar in basic coloration.

Can anyone confirm that these are in fact Maccoas? The first three images are one individual.

 

[Butty]

These are all Oxyura ducks. I haven't checked what the species options are.

 

[Jacob12]

Maccoa is the only option.

Thanks for the confirmation!

 

[DavidSwanepoel]

South African Shelduck is a much larger bird, the profile is also different and the males have grey heads with black bills (as opposed to Maccoa's black head and deep plastic blue bill).

 

[Jacob12]

Thanks for the clarification. I saw this photo (Photo 166775124, (c) Alex Dreyer, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) · iNaturalist) of a juvenile Shelduck and thought it was very much like a female Maccoa, so I just wanted to make sure my initial impression was correct.