Fulvous whistling duck

Fulvous whistling duck

Description

The fulvous whistling duck is a slender, long-legged duck with warm cinnamon-brown plumage that gives it its name. It measures around 45–53 cm and weighs 600–1000 g. Its trademarks are the creamy-white flank stripes, a dark back edged with buff, and a fine dark line running down the nape. Both sexes look almost identical, and its upright stance makes it resemble a small goose more than a typical duck.

Habitat

It favours freshwater wetlands, shallow lakes, flooded meadows and above all rice fields across the tropics of three continents. It seeks calm, densely vegetated water that offers both food and cover. As one of the most widespread of all waterfowl, it lives in the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

Diet

Its diet is largely plant-based – mainly grass and rice seeds, the green parts of aquatic plants, and some invertebrates. It forages mostly at dusk and through the night, often flying out to nearby fields, and will even dive for food.

Reproduction

Pairs are long-term and monogamous, and both parents share incubation and duckling care – something quite rare among ducks. The nest is hidden in dense waterside vegetation, with a typical clutch of 12–14 eggs. Several females sometimes lay in a single nest, producing enormous communal clutches. Incubation lasts about 24–26 days, and the ducklings are active from the moment they hatch.

Lifespan

In the wild it usually lives around 6–10 years, and considerably longer in human care – exceptionally up to about 20 years.

Did you know?

Despite being a duck, it does not quack but gives a clear, melodic whistle – the very trait behind the name 'whistling duck.'