Black-bellied Whistling Ducks
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The Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis) is a whistling duck which breeds in the southernmost USA and tropical Central and South America. The Black-bellied Whistling Duck is a common but wary species. It is largely resident, apart from local movements. It usually nests in hollow trees.
The habitat is quiet freshwater lakes, cultivated land or reservoirs with plentiful vegetation, where this duck feeds mainly at night on seeds and other plant food.
It is highly gregarious, forming large flocks when not breeding.
Description:
The Black-bellied Whistling Duck is 48-53cm long. It has a long red bill, long head and longish legs, pale grey head and mostly grey-brown plumage. The belly is black and the large white wing bar is visible in flight. All plumages are similar, except that juveniles have a grey bill and less contrasted belly.
Call / Song:
As the name implies, these are noisy birds with a clear whistling waa-chooo call.
Copyright: Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia.org
Diet / Feeding:
This duck feeds off of larvae and pupae usually found under rocks, aquatic animals, plant material, seeds, small fish, snails, and crabs.
Feeding Ducks ...
We all enjoy these beautiful birds and many of us offer them food to encourage them to come over and stay around - and it works! Who doesn't like an easy meal!
However, the foods that we traditionally feed them at local ponds are utterly unsuitable for them and are likely to cause health problems down the road. Also, there may be local laws against feeding this species of bird - so it's best to check on that rather than facing consequences at a later stage.
- Click here to find out which foods to feed them that will offer the nutrition they need to survive a cold winter and remain healthy
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