Andrew Patrick wrote:
"Farmyard ducks with red warty skin around the eyes. These are not Mallards
and I would like to know their name if you can help."
These ducks are Muscovy Ducks (Cairina moshata), originally from Central and
South America. I don't know why they don't appear in the field guides. Like
Mallards (and chickens) they have been domesticated, perhaps for centuries
and bred in many colour forms and shapes and may even be pure white in
plumage, as may mallards. Seen together one could mistake them for the same
species. The red warty face is distinctive and the beak is a different shape
from Mallards and their kin. What I don't know is whether the domesticated
Muscovy Duck hybridises with anything else.
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Patrick <>
To: birding-aus <>
Date: Sunday, 15 November 1998 13:50
Subject: Dusky Moorhens building nest
>Today 15/11/98 at Centennial Park, Sydney, I saw some interesting behaviour
>from three Dusky Moorhens.
>
>They were building a nest on the water lillies with one bird (female?)
>sitting on the nest placing pieces of reed around her. The two other birds
>were gathering lilly leaves and stems plus twigs from nearby paperbark
trees
>which had fallen in the water. They would search up to 30 metres away. They
>did not search together. When they found a piece they'd run across the top
>of the lillies, wings aflutter, back to the sitter. She would take the
>material from their beak and place it around her. On a few occassions both
>gatherers were at the nest at the same time yet there was no fighting.
>
>Has this been seen before? Is it unusual?
>
>Some other birds seen:
>500+ White Ibis with chicks in and out of the nest
>10 Long-billed Corellas preening in the paperbarks
>1 Tawny Frogmouth sitting on nest, as it was three weeks ago. No sign of
>chicks yet.
>1 Musk Duck male displaying (tail fanned, wings flapping under water and
>piercing single very unduck-like note)
>22 Greylag geese
>3 Farmyard ducks with red warty skin around the eyes. These are not
Mallards
>(saw 8 of them) and I would like to know their name if you can help.
>
>
>Andrew Patrick
>Cumberland Bird Observers' Club
>
>
>
>
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