Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

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Brent Stephenson
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Brent Stephenson » Tue Nov 13, 2012 2:51 pm

Not seen on 11 Nov, but apparently seen 7 Nov but not 6 Nov. So they seem to be hiding every now and then!

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Clinton9
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Clinton9 » Tue Nov 13, 2012 3:21 pm

And no Plumed whistling ducklings.
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FlyingKiwiGirl
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby FlyingKiwiGirl » Sat Dec 29, 2012 9:08 pm

Hey Tim, 3 ducks still in residence along with 3 turtles the size of dinner plates! :)
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Clinton9
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Clinton9 » Wed Jan 02, 2013 7:27 pm

Shellie,
There are no turtles native to New Zealand.
Byrd
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Byrd » Wed Jan 02, 2013 7:47 pm

Clinton9 wrote:Shellie,
There are no turtles native to New Zealand.

the turtles are red-eared turtles (aka red-eared sliders), released into the pond by thoughtless pet owners who no longer wanted them.
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FlyingKiwiGirl
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby FlyingKiwiGirl » Wed Jan 02, 2013 8:25 pm

Clinton9 wrote:Shellie,
There are no turtles native to New Zealand.

Byrd wrote:
Clinton9 wrote:Shellie,
There are no turtles native to New Zealand.

the turtles are red-eared turtles (aka red-eared sliders), released into the pond by thoughtless pet owners who no longer wanted them.


Thankyou Clinton & Byrd for your comments. I am aware Clinton, that the turtles aren't endemic & have been released. I was following on from Tim's comment about seeing one "dinner plate sized" turtle back on page 1. There are at least three and they would be very hard to catch in the murky and large pond(unless it was drained). They were also very wary and quickly disappeared off the log they were sunbathing on when disturbed.

I haven't read it here or elsewhere on the 'net but how do the experts think the ducks have arrived at the pond? I find it hard to believe that they just flew in, could it be that they too have been released, maybe from a private collection? Perhaps someone brought the eggs in illegally & hatched them?

Here's my whistling duck photo;

Image
Whistling Duck by flyingkiwigirl, on Flickr
NZ Forest Birds on Flickr
Look out for the Wetland & Waders, & Seabirds sets too.
Byrd
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Byrd » Wed Jan 02, 2013 8:33 pm

FlyingKiwiGirl wrote:I haven't read it here or elsewhere on the 'net but how do the experts think the ducks have arrived at the pond? I find it hard to believe that they just flew in, could it be that they too have been released, maybe from a private collection? Perhaps someone brought the eggs in illegally & hatched them?


there are no whistling ducks left in NZ collections. Vagrants of all sorts of species turn up regularly from Australia (e.g. at the moment there are in various parts of the country pelicans, nankeen kestrels, barn owls, black kite, little egrets, etc) and they can appear anywhere, whether it be a remote wetland or a city park. There is no reason to think that these whistling ducks are anything except vagrants. Similar examples are an Australian wood duck in Chch last year which appeared on a small body of water in the suburbs (Horseshoe Lake) and a white-eyed duck also last year in Chch on a pond in the outer suburbs. In both cases the majority of the other waterfowl around them were domestic muddle-ducks and common introduced species (eg black swans and mallards).
Clinton9
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Clinton9 » Wed Jan 02, 2013 9:35 pm

Shellie,
I suggest you could photo these turtles in same pond as three whistling ducks and send them to Byrd and me and FlyingKiwiGirl, so we can look for ourselves.

You may had seen rocks painted with red paints, or wooden turtles, made of woods & painted to look like real turtles, or a preening pukuko or maybe a preening feral chicken, or a sleeping black / brown dog puppy with red collar.


FlyingKiwiGirl,
I had never seen red-eared turtles in wild in New Zealand as they are water turtles of USA and they may had died few weeks later after been released by people, as there are not much foods in NZ water, for 15cm-30cm reptiles, as in USA water which had lots of foods. Dinner plate size means 20cm-30cm. Red eared turtles feeds on insects and plants. They laid eggs & bury them in soil, but cold wet NZ winter had killed the eggs.
Few kinds of Australian frogs are only animals to had surivied in NZ water for over 30 past years and I had seen few Golden Bell Tree frogs in Thames last year ago and Auckland in 1980s.
Byrd
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Byrd » Wed Jan 02, 2013 9:42 pm

Clinton9 wrote:Shellie,
I suggest you could photo these turtles in same pond as three whistling ducks and send them to Byrd and me and FlyingKiwiGirl, so we can look for ourselves.

You may had seen rocks painted with red paints, or wooden turtles, made of woods & painted to look like real turtles, or a preening pukuko or maybe a preening feral chicken, or a sleeping black / brown dog puppy with red collar.

well at least you've moved on from decoys, although perhaps a bit too far. I've seen the turtles myself (at least one of them) and they are red-eared turtles. They can survive quite well in NZ waters in many parts of the country.
Clinton9
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Clinton9 » Wed Jan 02, 2013 9:46 pm

Hi Byrd,
Had you really seen the feral red-eared turtles in NZ water ??? Where ??? I am sure you know what red-eared turtles look like.

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