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WATERFOWL

Order Anseriformes    Family Anatidae

The order Anseriformes contains about 150 living species of birds All species in the order are web-footed for efficient swimming and have a large wide bill with a specialized tongue that allows water to be sucked in the front of the bill. An array of plates traps food particles as the water is expelled out the sides of the bill. Not all species feed this way, some graze on plants and some also catch fish.

Anseriformes has 3 familes, but almost all of the species belong to Anatidae.
Family Anatidae: dabbling ducks, teals, diving ducks, sea duck, shelducks, geese.
Family Anatidae: stiff-tailed ducks, swans, whistling ducks,
Family Anhimidae: screamers
Family Anseranatidae: magpie goose

Other species resemble the waterfowl of Anseriformes.
Order Gaviiformes, Family Gaviidae: loons
Order Gruiformes, Family Rallidae: coots, moorhens, crakes, rails
Order Podicipediformes, Family Podicipedidae: grebes


Sheldgeese and Shelducks
 

Tadorninae is the shelduck-sheldgoose subfamily of family Anatidae. This group is largely tropical or Southern Hemisphere in distribution, with only two species, the Common Shelduck and the Ruddy Shelduck breeding in northern temperate regions. The Tadorninae are somewhat intermediate between geese and dabbling ducks.


Shelgeese

Genus Alopochen - 1 species

Goose,_Egyptian Alopochen aegyptiacus   Found:North America (escaped captive), Europe (introduced), Africa
The Egyptian Goose has a brown back, gray underparts, dark brown eye patch. The Egyptian Goose is not usually confused with any other goose, thanks to its distinctive face.
Image by: 1, 2) Dick Daniels - Tanzania    3, 6) Dick - Kenya  4, 5) Dick - Johaneesburg 7) Sandy Cole - St.Lucia,South Africa




Genus Chloephaga
This genus is found in South America

Goose,_Andean Chloephaga melanoptera  Found:South America 
The Andean Goose has a white head, neck, and underparts; small pink bill. The upperparts are white at the shoulders and become blacker progessing towards the tail.
Image by: 1) Francis C. Franklin   2) Dick Daniels - Sylvan Heights   3) BS_Thurner_Hof   4) Paul_Balfe


Goose,_Ashy-headed  Chloephaga poliocephala    Found: South America
The Ashy-headed Goose has a ash-gray head and upper neck; chestnut lower neck, breast, and upper back; brown lower back; white belly, black and white barred flanks; black bill; orange and black legs. Female has more barring than the male.
Image by: 1) Nick Athanas - Chile  2, 3, 4) Dick Daniels - Sylvan Heights   5) Sandy - Sylvan Heights
1) Pair



Goose,_Ruddy-headed   Chloephaga rubidiceps Found: South America
The Ruddy-headed Goose has a chestnut head, upper neck, under tail coverts; gray upperparts; gray underparts with fine black bars; black bill; yellow legs.
Similar to: female Magellan Goose. The Magellan Goose has longer neck than Ruddy-headed Goose. The Ruddy-headed Goose is stockier.
Image by: 1, 2) Dick Daniels - Sylvan Heights  3) Factumquintus


Goose,_Kelp  Chloephaga hybrida  Found: South America
The Kelp Goose feeds on seawead. It has yellow legs. The male is white with a dark bill and eyes. The female has dark brown dark overall with gray barring on the underparts, white eye-ring.
Image by: 1, 3, 5) Nick Athanas  2) Charlie Westerinen - Ushuaia Harbor, Argentina  2) dFaulder - Argentina 
1, 2) Pair  3) Female  4, 5) Male



Goose,_Magellan also Upland Goose Chloephaga picta  Found: South America
The male Magellan Goose has white head, neck and underparts; black bill and eyes; dark legs; the female is brown with barring on the underparts; yellow legs.
Similar to: female Ruddy-headed Goose. The Magellan Goose has longer neck than Ruddy-headed Goose. The Magellan Goose has longer neck than Ruddy-headed Goose. The Ruddy-headed Goose is stockier.
Image by: 1, 8) Nick Athanas  2) Fabienkhan - Argentina 3) Rodrigo Schulz - Chile 4) Frank Vassen  5, 7) Dick Daniels - Sylvan Heights 6) Chris Pearson - Falkland 
1) Pair  and juvenile male  2) Pair 3, 4, 6) Female  6, 7, 8) Male



Genus Neochen - 1 species

Goose,_Orinoco  Neochen jubata  Found: South America
The Orinoco Goose has pale head, neck, and breast; chesnut flanks and belly; black lower belly and tail; mainly black bill; reddish-orange legs. It is maily a terrestrial bird - infrequently swims or files.
Similar to: Blue-winged Goose. Their ranges do not overlap.
Image by: 1) Dick Daniels - Sylvan Heights   2) Tom_Friedel (BirdPhotos.com)  3) Dick - Jacksonville Zoo  4) Sandy Cole - Sylvan Heights




Shelducks

Genus Tadorana

Shelduck, Australian Tadorna tadornoides    Found: Australia
The Australian Shelduck has a dark green head, chestnut breast, white collar, dark back.  The female has white around the eye.
Image by: 1, 6) Dick Daniels - Australia    2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8) Dick - Sylvan Heights   
1 - 4) Female   4 - 8) Male
 

Shhelduck, South African  also Cape Shelduck  Tadorna cana  Found: southern Africa
The South African Shelduck has a chestnut body marked with black, white and green. The male has a gray head; the female has white face, black crown, and nape.
Similar to: White-faced Whistling-Duck. White-faced Whistling-Duck has a vertical black-white boundary on head; female Cape Shelduck black-white areas on head are more random.
Image by:  1, 3) Dick - National Aviary  2) Dick - South Africa   4,  8) Dick Daniels - San Diego Zoo    5) Dick - Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo   6) Sandy - San Diego Zoo  7) Sergey Yeliseev - Moscow Zoo 
1 - 6) Female  7, 8) Male


Shelduck, Common Tadorna tadorna   Found: North America (escapees), Europe, Asia
The Common Shelduck is a striking bird, with a reddish-pink bill, pink feet, a white body with chestnut patches and a black belly, and a dark green head and neck.
Image by: 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9) Dick Daniels - Sylvan Heights    4) Dick - Birds of Eden, South Africa   5, 10) Cristiano Crolle - Italy; Holland   6) Dick - Scotland   11) Video by Avibirds.   More vidoes
1, 2) Pair  3, 4, 5) Female   6 - 9) Male



Shelduck, Paradise Tadorna variegata Found: New Zealand
The male Paradise Shelduck has black head, black barred body with a chestnut rump. The female has a white head and chestnut body.
Similar to: Ruddy Shelduck. The female Paradise Shelduck resembles the Ruddy Duck. Their ranges do not overlap.
Image by:  1, 7, 8) Dick Daniels - Sylvan Heights   3, 4, 5, 6) Dick - New Zealand   2) Michal_Klajban
1) Pair  2 - 4) Female  5 - 8) Male



Shelduck, Radjah also Raja Shelduck  Tadorna radjah   Found: Australia
The Radjah Shelduck has mostly black upperparts; white head and underparts; dark breast band.
Image by: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8) Dick Daniels - Sylvan Heights   5) Dick - Featherdale, Australia (captive),


Shelduck, Ruddy Tadorna ferruginea   Found:  North America (escapees), Europe, Asia
The Ruddy Shelduck is a distinctive species, It has orange-brown body plumage and a paler head. The wings are white with black flight feathers.In the breeding season the male has a ring aroung the neck, the female does not.
Similar to: Female Paradise Shelduck. Their ranges do not overlap.
Image by:   1) Sergey Pisarevskiy - Mongolia 2) Jill Mitchell  3) Andy_Li   4) Dick Daniels - Miami Zoo   5) Arpingstone - England  6) Heather Daniels - Nepal   7) Video by Avibirds.   More vidoes
1) Male  2) Female



Genus Aix
The members of genus Aix have been placed here with in the shelduck subfamily, but they are also close to the dabbling ducks.

Duck, Mandarin Aix galericulata   Found: Asia  Introduced: North America, Europe
The male Madarin Duck has a red bill, large white crescent above the eye, reddish face, purple breast with two vertical white bars, ruddy flanks, with two orange "sails" at the back. The female has gray upperparts and head, white eye-ring and stripe running back from the eye, white at base of it pale-tipped bill, mottled gray and white breast, white belly
Similar to: female Wood Duck. Female Mandarin Duck has a thin yellow eye-ring surrounded by a white eye-ring; female Mandarin Duck lacks the thin yellow eye-ring.
Image by:  1, 2, 6, 7, 8) Dick Daniels - Sylvan Heights     3, 4, 5) Dick - Flamingos Wildlife Refuge  9) Video by Avibirds.   More vidoes
2, 3, 4) Female  5, 6, 7) Male  8) White morph


Duck, Wood Aix sponsa   Found: North America, Caribbean
The breeding male Wood Duck is chestnut and green with white stripes highlighting the plumage. Female has gray upperparts and head, white eye-ring and stripe running back from the eye, thin yellow eye-ring surrounded by a white eye-ring. Nonbreeding male similar to female but no white around the eyes.
Similar to: female Mandarin Duck. Female Mandarin Duck has a thin yellow eye-ring surrounded by a white eye-ring; female Mandarin Duck lacks the thin yellow eye-ring.
Image by: 1, 8) Alan D. Wilson  - Burnaby Lake, British Columbia     2) Sandy Cole - Cape Fear Acquarium, NC   3) Dick Daniels - Jungle Island of Miami  4) Dick - Maine   5) Alan Vernon - California  6, 7) Dick - Cape Fear Acquarium, NC   9) Dick - Sylvan Heights  10) Roy McBride - Vancouver, BC
1 - 5) Female   6 - 10) Male

Genus Cairina

This genus formerly included the White-winged Wood Duck, but DNA evidence implies it is only distantly related to muscovy ducks. Muscovy ducks seem to be more related to those in the Aix genus and are thus listed here on the shelduck web page.

Duck, Muscovy Cairina moschata    Found: North America (feral), Central and South America
The Muscovy Duck is black with a metalic sheen. It has a white wing patch.The population of feral Muscovy Duck is so large that it is difficult to determine if one in the wild is genetically pure. If there is much white on the bird then it is almost certainly feral.
Image by: 1) Sandy Cole - Sylvan Heights   2, 3) Dick Daniels - Sylvan Heights   4) Cristiano Crolle - Esteros del Iberà, Argentina  5) Jerry Oldenettel - Costa Rica  6, 7) Dick Daniels - Floeida   8) Dick - California   9) Jason Pratt 10)Video by Avibirds.   More vidoes
1 - 5) Natural Muscovy Ducks  6 - 9) Feral Muscovy Ducks





Genus Cyanochen - 1 species

It is unresolved whether or not the Blue-winged Goose is a shelgoose. It might belong to a very distinct and ancient "duck" clade, together with Hartlaub's Duck.

Goose,_Blue-winged Cyanochen cyanoptera   Found: Endemic to Ethiopia
The Blue-winged Goose is stocky and gray-brown. The head and neck are lighter than most of the plumage. The blue wings may usually be seen while the bird is at rest.
Similar to: Orinoco Goose. Their ranges do not overlap.
Image: 1, 2, 3, 4) Dick Daniels - Sylvan Heights  
The only member of the Genus Cyanochen and is in the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae



Genus Hymenolaimus - 1 species

Duck,_Blue   Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos    Found: New Zealand near fast moving water.
The Blue Duck has slate-gray upperparts, belly; chestnut-flecked breast; pinkish-white bill.
Closest Relative: Torrent Duck.
Image by:   1) Jon Sullivan  2) Bernard Spragg  3) Karora  4) Bernard SpraggZabdiel   5) Martin




Genus Merganetta - 1 species

Duck, Torrent  Merganetta armata     Found: South America near fast moving water.
The Torrent Duck is found around rapidly moving water (torrents). The male has gray upperparts; light to dark underparts (subspecies dependent); white head and neck with black streaks. Female has gray upperparts, head; orange underparts, throat.
Closest Relative: Blue Duck.
Image by: 1, 3, 5) Aljandro Bayer Ta mayo   2, 7) Nick Athanas - Ecuador, Argentina  4) ljndr - Argentina 6) Brendan_Ryan - Chile
1, 2) Pair 3) Mother with chicks 4) Female   5, 6, 7) Male




Genus Salvadorina - 1 species

Teal, Salvadori's   Salvadorina waigiuensis     Found; New Guinea near fast moving water.
The Salvadori's Teal has dark brown head, neck; dark brown barred and spotted upperpart, flanks; off white underparts; orange legs; yellow bill.
Image by: 1) John Gerrard Keulemans  2) Toxostoma  3) Pinned





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