Australian Shelduck Tadorna tadornoides
Male and female Australian Shelduck, The Coorong, SA, Australia, February 2006 - click for larger image Australia
February / March 2006

The Australian Shelduck is distributed in south-west and south-east Australia including Tasmania. It is found in shallow lakes and billabongs where there are scattered trees nearby. It tends to winter on larger lakes, estuaries and coasts.

 Female Australian Shelduck, Menindee, NSW, Australia, March 2006 - click for larger image The male is black with a buffy-chestnut breast and a white ring round the neck. The female is similar but the breast is a richer chestnut and it has a white eye-ring and white at the base of the bill. In photo 1, the female is on the right.

In flight, it shows a large white panel on the leading edge of the wing just in front of a petrol green speculum.

 Male Australian Shelduck, The Coorong, SA, Australia, February 2006 - click for larger image It was difficult to get close to these birds as they took flight as soon as they noticed my presence.
Previous Page Back to Index Next Page

If you do not see a menu on the left, you may have arrived at this page from another site. Please click Home to get to my main page.
Fatbirder's Top 1000 Birding Websites