Australian Ducks Etc.
Also some Australian birds from last year. As with passerines, Australia has a lot of very special ducks.
Black Swan
Cygnus atratus is perhaps the most well-known, and .. as I like birds with simple plumages -- one of the most beautiful ones. It sounds a bit like a small steam boat.
Australia Shelduck
Tadorna tadornoides is also quite attractive, and very variable, especially in these urban environments.
Pacific Black Duck
Anas superciliosa is very common. As I understand it, they are closely related to Mallards
Anas platyrhunchos and a whole range of (usually) insular ducks that all look more or less the same, as well as the Spot-billed Duck
Anas poecilorhyncha of mainland Asia and the American Black Duck
Anas rubripes. I remember reading somewhere that the Mallard was long believed to be more similar to the ancestral form, with its large range, and that the insular forms were more derived, having lost their colourful plumage, but in whatever publication that was, they showed that the opposite was actually true. I don't know if this still holds, or if a larger dataset has since overturned it.
Australasian Shoveler
Anas rhynchotis, here mostly in eclipse plumage. The male has a beautiful blue head with a white crescent in front of the eye.
Grey Teal
Anas gracilis, hard to tell apart from female Chestnut Teal
Anas castanea. The latter lacks the very pale patch on the throat, though. There were likely Chestnut Teals at Lake Monger in Perth -- where all these pictures were taken -- but I saw none that I was confindent in identifying as such.
Hardhead
Aythya australis is the only bird of its genus in Australia, and one of the few on the southern hemisphere. There a New Zealand Scaup
Aythya novaeseelandiae and the Madagascar Pochard
Aythya innotata, which is on the verge of extinction as well, but otherwise this genus is more northern.
Blue-billed Duck
Oxyura australis is also the only representative of its genus, although the Musk Duck (see below) is allied; the group is called Stiff-tailed Ducks Oxyurini. This species has the annoying habit of hiding its bill, but not swimming away, when someone wants to take pictures of it...
Musk Duck
Biziura lobata is one of the really strange ones. The male has this large pouch underneath the bill, and as in the picture, they often drag the tail in the water.
Pink-eared Duck
Malacorhynchus membranaceus is my absolute favorite, although I think the name is ridiculous, as the ear is not always even visible in the field. The alternative name Zebra Duck is much more fitting. There's also a Coot
Fulica atra, which brings us to the Rails. The Coot, as you know, has the ugliest youngs in existence:
With the moorhens in close second:
(here Dusky Moorhen
Gallinula tenebrosa), though they grow up to be quite beautiful:
Notice the two-coloured legs. Australia also has this bird:
Purple Swamphen
Porphyrio porphyrio, as well as a number of rails, most of which are hard to spot. There is a Buff-banded Rail
Gallirallus philippensis mellori here, but it's sort of hard to spot:
Australia also has three grebes:
Australasian Grebe
Tachybaptus novaehollandiae, which is very similar to the Little Grebe
Tachybaptus ruficollis, but the Australian species has more black on the head. It is usually easy to tell apart from the endemic Hoary-headed Grebe
Poliocephalus poliocephalus:
And very easy to tell from the familiar Great Crested Grebe
Podiceps cristatus australis:
Finally, here is a Hermit Crab:
