Peposaka duck
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Peposakaente ♂ ( Netta peposaca ) |
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| Netta peposaca | ||||||||||||
| ( Vieillot , 1816) |
The Peposakaente ( Netta peposaca ) is a monotypical duck bird belonging to the diving ducks . Its distribution area is South America. There it is one of the most common duck species. It is particularly numerous in the plains of the pampas and agricultural zones of Argentina. The males of this mainly vegetable-based duck species have a striking carmine-red beak hump.
Appearance
Appearance of fully grown peposaka ducks
The Peposakaente is a remarkably large-headed, massive duck. When fully grown, it reaches a body length of 53 to 57 centimeters and weighs around one kilogram.
The species shows a pronounced sexual dimorphism . The male wears a year-round dress and has black plumage on the head, neck and chest. This plumage often has a purple sheen. The back is also black, but with a fine white or gray mottling, so that it appears lighter than the head and neck plumage. The flanks and belly have fine black and white plumage so that they appear light gray from a distance. The under-tail-cover is white and the wing-covers are soot-brown, whereby the dark feather tips are tinged with green. The lower wings are white. The beak is bright pink to carmine red. The nail is black. The legs and feet are yellow. The iris is red to yellow-orange. A color variability is not described for the males of the Peposakaente.
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The females are plumed red-brown. The crown and the back plumage are a little darker. The chin and throat are almost whitish. The chest is a darker brown. The belly, on the other hand, is light brown. As with the male, the under tail cover is white. The beak is a dark blue-gray with a black nail. The lower wings are sandy brown. The iris is olive brown. The feet and legs are dark gray. Females do not have such a noticeable beak hump, but their upper beak base is slightly swollen too. In contrast to the males of the Peposakaente, the females have color variabilities, as individual females have white spots on their faces.
Insufficient data is available on the moulting of wild peposaka ducks. In Peposakaenten kept in human care, the full moult takes place including the dropping of the swing feathers and the change of the control feathers after the breeding season has ended. According to previous knowledge, Peposakaenten moult only once a year. A winter moult has not yet been proven.
Appearance of the chicks and fledglings
The chicks of the Peposakaente flee the nest and have an overall light downy coat. They are light olive brown on the top of the body. The face has no dark markings and, like the chest and the belly, is straw yellow. The edge of the wing is olive brown. Otherwise the wing is yellow. There is a yellow spot on each of the rump sides. The beak is blue-gray and the feet are gray-green. Not yet fully grown young birds are very similar to the females. However, they are a little darker on the underside of the body.
Distribution, habitat and existence
The peposaka duck is a South American species of duck. It occurs from the south of Brazil to Tierra del Fuego , making it a bird of the open landscape and poorly forested pre-regions of the Andes. It is particularly widespread and common in the north and center of Argentina. Large populations can also be found in Uruguay. Like in Argentina, it is one of the most common ducks. She is a partial puller. The southern population moves north during the winter months. In the Brazilian Rio Grande do Sul province , for example, it is frequent or numerous during this time, while it is rarely found here in the summer half-year.
The Peposakaente lives in small schools in the lowlands and prefers marshland here. The water bodies she prefers are freshwater lakes with reed beds, oxbow lakes and reservoirs in the river plains. It is one of the species that benefits greatly from the water retention basins created in the agricultural zones. She also uses rice fields for foraging. During the migration you can find them in Patagonia up to an altitude of 1000 meters above sea level.
Although the species is exposed to considerable hunting pressure and has suffered habitat loss through drainage, there is no evidence of a population decline. Obviously, the creation of new water retention basins in agricultural zones enables this species of duck to compensate for the pressure on the population from hunting and habitat destruction by conquering new habitats. The population is estimated at over a million individuals.
Reproduction
There is so far insufficient data on the reproduction of the Peposaka duck. Most of the knowledge so far has been gained from captive ducks. The Peposakaente is one of the ducks that are parasitized by the South American cuckoo duck .
The breeding season in South America falls in the early summer months of October to December. In Paraguay, however, breeding birds were also observed in February and March. Smaller freshwater bodies and quiet bays on larger lakes are used as breeding water. The nest is located in the bank area and is preferably created in the reed bed. The full clutch consists of ten to twelve eggs. These are gray-green in color and on average 58 × 42.8 millimeters in size. The incubation period is 27 to 29 days. Chicks hatched in captivity weighed an average of 32.8 grams.
Attitude in Europe
Peposaka have been kept as ornamental poultry in Europe since the end of the 19th century. The zoo in London demonstrably showed peposaka ducks in 1873 and the zoo in Berlin for the first time from 1882. They are hardy and are considered to be undemanding to keep. The drakes also show an attractive dress all year round. After specializing in duck ornithologists Hartmut Kolbe Peposakaenten how the related with them as often for this reason Pochard held.
supporting documents
literature
- Janet Kear (Ed.): Ducks, Geese and Swans. Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-19-854645-9 .
- Hartmut Kolbe; Die Entenvögel der Welt , Ulmer Verlag 1999, ISBN 3-8001-7442-1
Web links
- Netta peposaca inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2014.