Basic Information
Scientific classification
- Chinese name: Brown-breasted Muscovy Duck
- Scientific name: Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides)
- Classification: Waterfowl
- Family and genus: Anseriformes, Anatidae, Muscovy
Vital signs data
- Body length: No verification information available.
- Weight: No verification information available.
- Lifespan: No verification data available.
Significant features
The male duck has predominantly black plumage, a dark green head, a chestnut-red breast, and a white collar around its neck.
Distribution and Habitat
It is found in Australia and New Zealand, including Tasmania and its nearby islands.
It inhabits various habitats including rivers, lakes, estuaries, ponds, and nearby grasslands, wastelands, swamps, beaches, farmlands, and sparse forests on plains, with a particular preference for lake areas on plains. It mainly lives in inland freshwater, but is sometimes also found on coastal beaches, in saltwater lake areas, and in open grasslands far from water bodies.
Appearance
The Muscovy duck (Brown-breasted Muscovy) is a large water duck. The male has predominantly black plumage, a dark green head, a chestnut-red breast, and a white collar around its neck. The female is similar, but has white eye rings. Both male and female Muscovy ducks have large white and green speculum at the corners of their wings when flying.
Detailed introduction
The Australian Shelduck (scientific name: Tadorna tadornoides) is a bird of the Anatidae family.
During the breeding season, Muscovy ducks live in pairs; outside the breeding season, they live in family groups or small flocks, sometimes forming large groups of dozens or even nearly a hundred. They are wary and difficult for humans to approach. Their diet consists mainly of plant matter, including aquatic plant leaves, buds, and seeds, crop seedlings, and grains. They also eat insects, crustaceans, mollusks, shrimp, water frogs, earthworms, small frogs, and small fish. They forage mostly at dusk and dawn, sometimes during the day, especially in autumn and winter. Small groups of a few to more than 20 ducks are often seen foraging for scattered grains on farmland along riverbanks, as well as in shallow water near the water's edge and on the surface.
The Muscovy Duck reaches sexual maturity at 2 years of age. They typically breed once a year, occasionally twice. The breeding season is from April to June. Breeding usually takes place in open plains, and pair pairings are relatively stable. Mating occurs in water or on land. Before mating, the female duck stretches her neck forward, lowers her head to the ground, and makes a 'quack' sound, pacing back and forth around the male. The male then stretches his neck towards the female, then takes her shoulder feathers and mounts her back for mating. They nest in natural burrows or abandoned animal burrows in open plains and grasslands, as well as in earthen burrows and rock crevices in mountains and lakes/islands. They are also found nesting in tree cavities. The nest consists of a small amount of dry grass and a large amount of down feathers. The clutch size is 8-10 eggs. The female raises the eggs alone, while the male guards the nest, calling loudly to warn of danger. Sometimes the male will even fly towards intruders and make aggressive gestures to scare them away. When the female bird leaves the nest, she covers the eggs with her downy feathers before going out to forage with the male. After foraging, the male accompanies the female back to the nest before leaving to roost nearby as a watchdog. The incubation period is 27-30 days, with chicks hatching as early as the beginning of May. The hatched chicks swim with their parents in ponds and streams, immediately hiding in the grass near the bank when they see people. The chicks are precocial, covered in downy feathers immediately after hatching and capable of swimming and diving. Some sources also indicate that the parents usually carry the chicks from the nest area to the water. While swimming, the chicks often climb onto their parents' backs to play. After about 50 days of chick life under their parents' guidance, the chicks are able to fly.
Listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Birds, 2009 ver 3.1.
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