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GrasslandScrapeLarge · 790 g
ID tip
Measuring 42–60 cm (16.5–23.5 in) and weighing around one kilogram (2.2 lb), it is a long-necked duck with brown upperparts, paler underparts and a white rump. The chest is a chestnut colour with thin black bars, while long black-margined plumes arise from its flanks. Its bill and legs are a pinkish red, and the iris of the eyes are yellow. The male and female are similar in appearance. The species has a characteristic lowered neck and short, dark, rounded wings while flying. The call is a characteristic whistle, which gives the bird its common name.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Plumed Whistling Duck
One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is January, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Plumed Whistling Duck
The map shades 3 countries with regular records, and 1 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
Recorded as a rare visitor in United States.
About the Plumed Whistling Duck
The plumed whistling duck, also called the grass whistling duck, is a species of bird in the whistling duck subfamily of the family Anatidae. It is resident and breeds in Australia, in a broad arc covering the northern half and most of the eastern third of the continent. There are also non-breeding and seasonally uncertain populations in New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. It is a predominantly brown-coloured duck with a long neck and characteristic plumes arising from its flanks. The sexes are similar in appearance.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Wandering Whistling DuckDendrocygna arcuataFormerly named tree ducks, the wandering whistling duck has its new name because of their loud whistling calls and the whistling noise their wings make during flight.
West Indian Whistling DuckDendrocygna arboreaThe West Indian whistling duck is the largest and darkest of the whistling ducks with a length of 48 to 58 cm (19 to 23 in).
Spotted Whistling DuckDendrocygna guttataThe Spotted whistling duck is one of the smaller species in the genus Dendrocygna.
Side by side: Lesser Whistling Duck vs Plumed Whistling Duck · Plumed Whistling Duck vs White-faced Whistling Duck · Fulvous Whistling Duck vs Plumed Whistling Duck · Plumed Whistling Duck vs Wandering Whistling Duck · Plumed Whistling Duck vs West Indian Whistling Duck
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