Bird Guide

Australian Shelduck vs Ruddy Shelduck

Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides)

Australian Shelduck

Tadorna tadornoides

Large1.4 kgWetland

The males are mostly dark, with a chestnut breast. They have white neck collars and dark green heads. The females are similar, but they have white around the eyes and are smaller. Both males and females have chestnut and black wings with a green speculum, and show some white on their wings during flight. The downy young are white with a brown crown and brown stripes from crown to tail. Juvenile males are duller than the adults and also lack a white collar, while juvenile females have a lot more white on their excluding their crown.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Maria Duynisveld · CC BY 4.0
Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea)

Ruddy Shelduck

Tadorna ferruginea

Large1.2 kgWetland

The ruddy shelduck grows to a length of 58 to 70 cm (23 to 28 in) and has a 110–135 cm (43–53 in) wingspan. The male has orange-brown body plumage and a paler, orange-brown head and neck, separated from the body by a narrow black collar. The rump, flight feathers, tail-coverts and tail feathers are black and there are iridescent green speculum feathers on the inner surfaces of the wings. Both upper and lower wing-coverts are white, this feature being particularly noticeable in flight but hardly visible when the bird is at rest. The bill is black and the legs are dark grey.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording: Pascal Christe · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: (c) egorbirder, some rights reserved (CC BY) · cc-by

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Australian Shelduck and Ruddy Shelduck.