Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

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RussCannings
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby RussCannings » Fri Dec 09, 2016 4:32 pm

Had at least 1 whistler at Anderson Park on Thursday evening (Dec 8). It was poking around the picnic tables beside the carpark.
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ourspot
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby ourspot » Sun Dec 18, 2016 12:05 am

Finally got to check out the Plumed Whistling Duck today at Anderson Park. One was present and resting on the lake edge near the picnic tables area amongst the Mallards, Muscovy’s and Greylag Geese. What a beautiful striking duck! Eventually it stood up, slipped into the pond and swam around in front of us for about half an hour giving a great viewing for us. Whenever any other ducks got too close it would let out a little peep or two and then give them a nip - most impressed as this duck is a bit smaller than the other species so it was letting them know to keep out the way. Was still on the pond when we left.

Cheers
Scott, Helen, Ollie, Zef and Jay Brooks
The Great New Zealand Bird Tour 2016
Plumed Whistling Duck_IMG_5012.jpg
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Michael
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Michael » Sun Dec 18, 2016 7:29 pm

ourspot wrote:Finally got to check out the Plumed Whistling Duck today at Anderson Park. One was present and resting on the lake edge near the picnic tables area amongst the Mallards, Muscovy’s and Greylag Geese. What a beautiful striking duck! Eventually it stood up, slipped into the pond and swam around in front of us for about half an hour giving a great viewing for us. Whenever any other ducks got too close it would let out a little peep or two and then give them a nip - most impressed as this duck is a bit smaller than the other species so it was letting them know to keep out the way. Was still on the pond when we left.

Cheers
Scott, Helen, Ollie, Zef and Jay Brooks
The Great New Zealand Bird Tour 2016


Only one? That's a worry...
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ourspot
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby ourspot » Mon Dec 19, 2016 12:18 pm

Thought we'd drop into Anderson Park on our way out of Napier this morning and am pleased to say we found 2 Plumed Whistling Ducks there today. There was one on each of the 2 ponds main ponds - we had only checked out one pond on Friday.

Cheers Scott.
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sav
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby sav » Tue Dec 20, 2016 10:39 am

I also saw both birds on Monday late afternoon. Once again they were separate from one another, though both were on the big pond where the shag colony is.

cheers
Sav Saville
Wrybill Birding Tours, NZ
Great Birds, Real Birders
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Nikki McArthur
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Nikki McArthur » Wed Dec 28, 2016 12:57 pm

Both birds present yesterday morning (27th Dec), foraging right in front of the carpark with a loose flock of ca 130 mallards and other assorted waterfowl.

Nikki
Alan Tennyson
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Alan Tennyson » Fri Dec 30, 2016 9:33 pm

Both present again this morning at the car park, jostling for bread scraps with muscovies and mallards. I initially walked right past them thinking they'd be chilling at the ponds where I've seen them before. Ones in Aussie that I've seen have been far too wary to eat bread scraps. How long did it take for these ones to get tame?
Clinton9
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Clinton9 » Sat Dec 31, 2016 2:27 am

Both two male Plumed whistling ducks.
Cheryl Walton
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Cheryl Walton » Sat Dec 31, 2016 1:34 pm

Saw 1 today near the car park. It was walking around while the other ducks where sitting. It would go up to a duck and let out a call. Did this a couple of times, then moved on to another duck and called again. Was lucky enough to get the second go on my phone. You can hear it at around the 9 second and 26 second mark.

Voice 003 (online-audio-converter.com).mp3 [ 721.56 KiB | Viewed 3759 times ]

Jake
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Re: Plumed whistling ducks - Anderson Park, Taradale

Postby Jake » Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:13 pm

Just wondering what the evidence is that they're both male....
When the two were hanging out together there were slight superficial differences (size, head shape) IMO. I visited them just after christmas, and it does indeed seem that they're not the best of friends anymore (perhaps the result of failed breeding attempts?). In the pics I have of them from last week there appears to be slight eye-colour differences but that could have been due to lighting (one shows up more yellowish orange and the other looking marginally more reddish)

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