August 2004
This bird is distributed in Southern South America, mainly Chile and Argentina, but is an austral winter migrant to southern Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia.
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| Black-headed Duck (Heteronetta atricapilla) | ||||
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Taim, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil August 2004 This bird is distributed in Southern South America, mainly Chile and Argentina, but is an austral winter migrant to southern Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia. |
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The Black-headed Duck is a brood parasite always laying its eggs in another bird's nest. A common host is the Red-fronted Coot (Fulica rufifrons) . The incubation period for the Black-headed Duck at about 24 days is shorter than that of the host's eggs. When hatched the duckling spends only a few hours in the nest before it is off looking after itself. The brood parasitism of the Black-headed Duck is therefore quite benign given that the host's eggs and young are not damaged and the duckling doesn't even require feeding. | |||
| There is an illustration in HBW, Volume 1, Page 624. | ||||
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