Instead of watching the AFL Grand Final on a lazy Saturday afternoon at the pub in Lake Boga on my road trip to Goschen, I took off south to find an ebird reported duck species that I had never seen before – a Plumed Whistling Duck. Without a lot of expectations I drove south for a few hours, got bogged, got dirty, got lost but in the end I found my duck and after dancing my little victory shuffle I tried to get a few images as proof of bird 333. In the end I found 7 ducks across 2 dams including 3 flying over my head just to make sure. It is a strange looking duck with large wings, tiger stripes and makes a high pitch sound as it flies. It feeds at night and sleeps and preens during the day, resting in long grass around dams. I actually saw 2 Wood Ducks on a farm dam along Kow-Swamp Rd in Terrick Terrick and pulled over to check them out and on the bank close to me I found my Plumed Whistling Ducks. [This is actually my second time reporting Lifer 333, one of my previous bird species has been merged back into another related species…painful but it can happen both ways – merges and splits].
Plumed Whistling Duck, Mitiamo-Kow Swamp Road Dams, Terrick Terrick, Victoria
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Nice big wings
Stripes under the wings
Australian Wood Duck – the reasons I found lifer 333
