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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale
Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 11:12 pm
by Oscar Thomas
Where do they go because I saw neither this afternoon. 2 Dabchicks on the Southern pond and a juvenile on the Northern. Lots of bellibirds always nice, and a black shag. There was a Spoonbill at Marewa pond, no White herons anywhere.
Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale
Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 5:58 pm
by ledzep
Dianne and I shot up to Anderson Park late afternoon (a few others from the birding conference there too). One of the ducks was swimming around the western side of the little island, the other bird was on the eastern side roosting on the island just visible through the bushes. Good to see they are still around.
Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 12:00 pm
by FlyingKiwiGirl
An update from this morning- I visited the pond and I'm pretty confident (in fact I am certain) that there is now only one plumed whistling duck left on the pond. He/she has been taken 'under the wing' by a pair of aggressive black swans who will chase you if you get close to him. I think he has cottoned on to the fact that they offer security and follows them around on land and water. He swims along behind the pair all over the pond and climbs out when they get out and back in when they do. He walked straight past me at about a metre away while following the swans yet gave me a wide berth when the swans went waddling off in another direction.
Three's company- love is in the air on the pond. That's the plumed whistling duck behind the pair in both photos after they swum over to the north side of the pond.
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 7:41 pm
by Neil Fitzgerald
One was hanging out with the swans when I was there in June too. He was very timid when away from them, but would swim right up when they were near. No idea how much the protection was costing him. There was definitely a #2 duck there then though.
Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 7:59 pm
by FlyingKiwiGirl
I've walked around the pond every day bar 2-3 for the last 3 weeks (it's just around the corner from my parents) and there has only been one duck. Would be great to think one was hiding on the island but I doubt it. Especially as they have always been together whether it was 3 ducks and then 2.
Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale
Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 3:07 pm
by FlyingKiwiGirl
Well I eat humble pie.....which is good news actually because today I was driving past the park and I couldn't believe my eyes; two plumed whistling ducks grazing right out on the road side with 2 swans (this is a very busy arterial road). One swan gave a duck a drumming on the head and held it down for a couple of seconds when it walked under its neck. Crappy cell phone photo but evidence anyway. So now I wonder if the one that was missing all that time (3 weeks) was sitting on false nest of some sort on the island.
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale
Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 3:18 pm
by Byrd
I like how these ducks' presence gets regularly updated. Often those vagrants which decide to settle over here get a flurry of interest while everybody rushes to see them, but once that's over they more or less get ignored (or at least nobody bothers to mention if they see them because it's "old news"), so it's nice to have these ones kept tabs on.
Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale
Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 3:54 pm
by Grahame
Well said Byrd, my sentiments entirely. Thanks FlyingKiwiGirl.
Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale
Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 2:09 pm
by les
the big plus is they are at such a convenient location as well.
Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale
Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 10:11 pm
by sav
Two PW Ducks still present yesterday - 31 Oct 2016. It was the first time that I had ever seen them more than a couple of feet away from one another, since this time they were each resting on the bank but about 100m apart.
cheers