The black-bellied whistling-duck lives along the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America and small slivers of Texas and Arizona. Which location did I see this duck? None of the above. I saw this in New York.
According to All About Birds these are the locations these ducks should be in the shaded areas of the map.
It is going back and forth between a river and a pond like area. It is not alone but with a few others of its kind. Why is it here? Did a storm blow it all the way up here? Is this a result of a dwindling food in its normal spots? Are birds loosing their directional sense? Do they have wanderlust? Is it getting too hot in the areas they normally are? Did someone capture these or buy them to have in the US and they successfully staged a group escape? It is a mystery.
If they nest up here, nest predators would be raccoons and rat snakes. Great horned owls could take the adults. There maybe a great horned owl family nearby and I almost stepped on a what looked to be a black rat snake. Being near a river, there are bald eagles close by.
These pictures were taken from a road with a zoom lens and were cropped. I will not go where I am not supposed to be. I do not go on private land without permission. It was a cloudy, dark day. We have had a lot of those. Maybe in the future if these creatures are still there, I can capture them in better light. Expect the unexpected. Happy Thursday!
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