Puna duck
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Puna duck ( Spatula puna ) |
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| Spatula puna | ||||||||||||
| ( Tschudi , 1844) |
The Puna Teal ( Spatula puna , Syn. : Anas puna ) is endemic to the Punazone the Peruvian , Bolivian and Chilean Andes occurring Gründel duck .
habitat
The duck is found at altitudes of 3000 to 4000 meters on flat mountain lakes, including Lake Titicaca , in the low-rain Horchland steppe. It can rarely be found at heights of 5000 meters or at sea level. At the Horchlandseen it lives in the bank vegetation consisting of rushes and sour grasses . Non-breeding birds stay in small groups on the open water surface. In the Punazone, the Punaenete is the most common duck.
features
Puna ducks are similar to the Versicolor ducks , to which they were previously counted as the subspecies Anas versicolor puna . They are larger than this, reach a maximum length of 46 cm and have a longer beak. It becomes 46 to 54 mm long and is colored blue on the sides and black on its ridge line. The head above the eye line of both sexes and the neck are black, below it is cream-colored and pink. The rest of the plumage is light brown with dark brown spots on each individual feather. The flanks and belly are cream-colored and have fine brown dashes. In the males, the coverts on the wings are darker than in the females. The wings are 20.5 to 21.4 cm long, the weight of the males is 546 to 560 g. Puna ducks feed on aquatic and marsh plants, seeds and small animals.
Reproduction
Since the seasonal temperature differences in the high Andes are only slight, the puna duck breeds almost all year round. The nest is built on the banks of the water or on raised tufts of grass in flooded meadows. After the eggs are laid, the nest is covered with down. The five to six eggs are yellowish isabel-colored eggs and measure 52–63 × 37–42 mm.
literature
- Hartmut Kolbe: The world's ducks. Neumann Verlag, Leipzig, Radebeul, 1981
- Martin R. De LA Pena: Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica (Collins Illustrated Checklist) . Harpercollins Pub Ltd, ISBN 0002200775
Web links
- Spatula puna in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2009. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2009. Accessed August 23 of 2010.