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Project Noah Nature School
Anas bahamensis
The White cheeked Pintail or Bahama Pintail is originally from the Caribbean, South America, and the Galápagos Islands. According to the French version of Wikipedia, it can be spotted in Europe, where it is an escapee or descendent of escapees from bird parks. It is mainly mottled brown with white cheeks, red at the base of the beak in the adult, a distinctive green and black speculum and a whitish tail. The 4th shot shows that the animal has been previously banded.
An open pond with reeds and dense vegetation. Seen in the company of local mallards and tufted ducks as well as of out-of-range ruddy shelducks and a ferruginous duck. In its original habitat this duck is found in waters with a degree of salinity, such as brackish lakes, estuaries and mangrove swamps
For previous spottings of unusual ducks at the same pond see: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/689... http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/689...
Thanks KarenL! I may have a chance to go by that pond tomorrow and see if he's still there... Snow is supposed to come in 2-3 days! (mad, the weather is still totally summer-like...)
His presence was indeed totally surprising hg_williams3! He's too far to be a vagrant; the fact that he's ringed (4th shot) indicates he's most likely an escapee.
im from the caribbean where they have these and i was really surprised when i saw that it was spotted in switzerland
Thanks for your comment dreamfalcon. This one is obviously a first generation escapee. Unlike your couple this duck was on its own, hanging out with another non-local duck the picture of which I still have to post. I saw them on the same pond last summer, and I will try go back there in 6 months time as I am curious to see whether they migrate in winter.
Yours has a green ring - the couple in Lucerne was not ringed. So there must be (have been) more around.
Atul, there's an other mystery duck hanging out there but my only pic for it is not very good. I'll have to go back and hope it's still there. Stay tuned!
it was definately not asian ,the other two duck spottings that you have are asian visitors,ruddy shieldduck and ferruginous duck
Atul, I was wondering whether it was Asian but I would never have looked at South America!
Atul, thanks so much for the ID, you're spot on!
MickGrant, thanks a lot for your suggestion. I understand your suggestion for the Marbled Teal, especially as it is geographically closer. But the white-cheeked pintail is a perfect match.
Auntnance123, indeed with this ID it has to be an escapee and not a vagrant. I spotted this duck ( I am assuming it's the same animal) last winter as the same pond but couldn't ID it then. I wonder where it spent the winter as this place gets freezing. For the previous spotting see 4th pic on
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/619...
Quite the 'vagrant' coming from South America to Switzerland! Possible it's an escapee from a zoo (the band may mean such)?
Thanks Alice. He is a beauty. I would guess that Austrian ducks are very similar to the ones we have in Switzerland. This guy though is an "illegal immigrant", and I'd like to know what he is :-)
Spotted on Jul 17, 2011
Submitted on Jul 23, 2011
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