Falcated Duck
Falcated Duck: Medium dabbling duck with long black and white tertial feathers extending over black rump. Body white, black, gray in finely-scaled pattern. The crested iridescent head is green and purple-brown. White throat has black ring; black tail and black-green speculum are edged in white.
● Song:
"whew- whew", "tsooh, tsooh"
● Foraging & Feeding:
Falcated Duck: Eats aquatic plants, seeds, and roots, but also occasionally takes snails, insects, small fish and frogs. Generally a surface feeder or dabbler but will sometimes tip or upend to feed or, more rarely, may dive. Sometimes grazes on land on forbs and grasses. Prefers marshy areas, ponds, estuaries, quiet rivers, and shallow coastal bays.
● Breeding & nesting:
Falcated Duck: Six to ten creamy white eggs are laid in nest built on ground, near water, under cover of tall, dense vegetation. Nest typically made of grasses and forbs and lined with down. Hen incubates eggs for about 26 days, sometimes assisted by male.
● Similar species:
Falcated Duck: No similar species has long, sickle-shaped tertials.
Flight Pattern
Fast, direct flight with steady, strong, rapid wingbeats.
● Range & Habitat:
Falcated Duck: Breeds and winters in southeastern Asia but strongly migratory. Birds seen in North America beyond Alaska may be escaped captives from private collections or fully wild birds. Favors wetlands, small lakes, ponds, quiet rivers, estuaries, marshes. Near-threatenend in the wild. Most U.S. sightings occur between Pacific northwestern and central Californian coasts. Also seen on Baja peninsula, in Mexico, India, and Canada.