Friday 15 March 2019

Indian Spot-billed Duck (Anas poecilorhyncha)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Anas ("duck") poecilorhyncha ("pied bill")
Three adult Indian Spot-billed Duck (subspecies A. p. haringtoni) at Florican Grasslands, Cambodia - February 2019

Featured Subspecies: Anas poecilorhyncha haringtoni
Weight: 790-1500g  /  Length: 55-63cm  /  Wingspan: 83-95cm
NO UK STATUS IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The South Asian equivalent to the Eastern Spot-billed Duck I first encountered in Japan, the Indian is a more striking bird with more contrasting, patterned plumage and a bright red face patch.  Unfortunately, all this was kind of lost on me as the only birds I saw were in flight at the Florican Grasslands, which probably makes this the very first species of duck I've seen only in flight.  Generally, they are apparently fairly secretive birds that avoid large sections of open water, which is probably a factor in why I only saw these ones that had been flushed.

Related Species: 
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Anas
Subspecies: A. p. haringtoni, A. p. poecilorhyncha

 - Sighting Locations -
CAMBODIA Khmer: ទាកាបព្រៃ ("Wild duck")
A locally reasonably common resident

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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