Fulvous Whistling-Duck Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A large, oddly proportioned duck with long legs, a long neck, and a rather long bill.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Northern Shoveler, much smaller than a Canada Goose; similar in size to a Mallard but with a longer neck and legs.

  between crow and goose

  Measurements

  • Male
  • • Length: 17.3-20.1 in (44-51 cm)
    • Weight: 19.2-33.8 oz (545-958 g)
  • Female
  • • Length: 16.5-19.3 in (42-49 cm)
    • Weight: 21.0-34.0 oz (595-964 g)

  © Gerardo Marrón / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Fulvous Whistling-Ducks are rich cinnamon with broad black bars on the wings and back. The side of the neck has fine white stippling and the flanks have long white stripes. The tail is black, rump and undertail white, and the legs and bill are dark gray. Females have more blackish on the crown and back of neck than males.

• Behavior

  Forages, often at night, by dabbling and by “tipping up,” lowering the head and neck into water to reach food. Occasionally dives in deep water. Flocks are often seen and heard flying between roosting and feeding sights at dawn and dusk, giving repeated whistling calls.
• Habitat

  Rice fields, freshwater marshes, and ponds. In winter, also uses coastal lagoons, flooded savannas, mangrove swamps, and freshwater marshes. Migrants appear in many sorts of wetlands, even in saltmarshes.