The Fulvous Whistling Duck
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and Black and White Rhinoceroses. The partial shell of a suspiciously large egg I found one of our female Comb Ducks eating in early March was not logged at all. Three eggs hopefully logged Gn a hand other than Giraffe Eggs - my own) as Garganey Teal (placed in the exhibit April 20), were placed in the incubator May 27, and removed June 6, when nothing appeared to be The Fulvous growing. I did enter egg 503 as "Duck?" ("Discovered in open depres sion in Giraffe Exhibit") June 8, incu bated June 10, and discarded seven Whistling Duck days later. Between three eggs labeled "Duck Pond" (which is next to the Aquarium) and two further Roul (Dendrocygna bicolor) Rouls, I logged eggs number 555 and byJosef Lindholm, 11/ Keeper IIjBirds A real treat for your birds! Fort Worth Zoological Park (,~D~:+ Macadamia ,. NUTS ~ Nuts California grown. In my experience, rhinos in zoos are fairly regularly scheduled literary eve from grower to you. ~~? Raw-in Shell sedate animals. They stand. When nings at a local coffee house. Readers No salt. no chemicals. they do move, it is usually with a pon of this magaZine should be pleased to no preservatives 50 lb. minimum derous stateliness. I have seen a lot of know that prior to submission, I read at $1.50 per lb. rhinos in a lot of zoos and have thus my manuscripts before my fellow zoo plus shipping formed certain expectations. So I was folk and other vigorous critics. As my TASTE C.O.D. ACCEPTABLE THE DlFFERENCB Call (619) 728-4532 startled when a Black Rhinoceros articles provide an (at times) welcome Gold Crown Macadamia Assoc. gave a snort like a rifle-shot and relief to moody love poems and intro P.o. Box 235. Fallbrook. ell. 92088-0235 charged wildly across her yard, swing spective musings on the meaning of ing her head back and forth. What life, I can be confident Dan will be might have been entertaining was, certain the rhinos are in while I hunt Kathleen Szabo H3rring under the circumstances, alarming, as for eggs in their yards. The same domestic handraised babies applies for giraffes. That they can this behavior happened to coincide (305) 258-2373 perfectly with the bland announce decapitate a lion with a single kick is ment that I would be expected to one of those bits of trivia zoo keepers LVV THEM BIRDS, INC. explore the African rhino yards for are expected to dispense at parties. I'Q Box 0285. Goulds. FL 33170 duck eggs on a regular basis. It was a The same time I started at Fort bleak late afternoon in December, Worth, Lis Glassco, our assistant cura 1991, and I was being shown my tor, arrived from the ational Zoo, The Wright Roost future string of exhibits by Chris bringing with her numerous innova Jeri Wright 1 Brown, Curator of Birds. I'd arrived in tions. One of the first to be instituted (206) 838-9802 NOW HAND-FEEDING town the night before, aware my pri was an egg log, to be filled out by Hyacinths & other macaws, Cockatoos mary exhibit was the great glass keepers as they discovered the eggs. Conures & Amazons Domestic, Close-Banded atrium in the soon-to-be opened During 1992 there were 929 eggs Roudybush Distributor World of Primates, an eventual home logged. From late January to the for finches and softbills. It happened beginning of March, Crested Wood that this brand new building adjoined Partridges (Rollulus roulroul) pre the Gloria and Harry Tennison Rhin dominated, then the waterfowl took GOLDEN oceros Exhibits and the associated dis over. Brazilian Teal, Chestnut Teal, CONURES play for Giraffes, and it was only logi Chiloe Wigeon, Wood Ducks, Are cal that its bird keeper should be Hooded Mergansers, Ruddy Ducks Available responsible for the waterfowl next (and the occasional "mystelY duck"), From door. Chris advised I'd do well to were followed, as May passed into establish friendly relations with the June, by Marbled Teal, Redheads, Followill Aviaries A Closed Aviary rhino staff. Shovelers, and Ringed Teal. one of Specializing in the in the Queen ofBavaria's Conure As it happened, my anxieties were these, however, emanated from the Please call for free information package groundless. Of the three full-time "African Lagoon", across which the Dave Followill (407) 773-7571 rhino keepers, one is in charge of the public stares at Reticulated Giraffes, afa WATCHBIRD 53 556 as "Giraffes" on June 15, and ous that the clutch of twelve from the Regarding Dendroeygna hieolor, noted they were "Rotten - Thrown Black Rhino yard was very rotten. Jean Delacour (1954) wrote that it has Away"). Another giraffe's egg appears I'm glad to say such was not the "... probably the most extraordinary between a Roadrunner and a Roul case with the other fifteen, found in range of all species of birds". The only Roul, found July 2, incubated July 4 the giraffe yard. When I came upon one of the 150 species of Ducks, and discardedJuly 7. this monumental clutch, a Cape Teal Geese and Swans, making up the fam As July progressed, the Roul Roul (Mareea eapensis) was sitting very ily Anatidae, to nest in all four hemis Partridges again dominated the log tightly, as best as it was able, on these pheres, the Fulvous Whistling Duck (punctuated by such things as my dis large eggs, and most reluctant to leave naturally occurs in five distinct ranges; covery of a nest full of bright-eyed them. (Furthermore, according to its the southern U.S. and Mexico (but Dybowski's Twinspots (Eusehisto bands, this bird was male.) When I not other countries in Central Amer spiza dyhowskiO on July 14, the first returned some minutes later, with ica), northeastern South America, hatched in a U.S. public zoo). Water something to carry the eggs in, I found southeastern South America, central fowl entries trickled to a small minor one of the Comb Duck females on top and eastern Africa and Madagascar, ity. Among these few are a fourth of them - certainly a better fit. As and the entire Indian subcontinent giraffe egg, found July 19. It was sig these eggs were placed in the incu (Terres, 1980). It is generally agreed nificantly different. It was big. The bator, my anticipation can be imag no SUb-species can be defined. Dela previous ones were quite small, and ined. cour (1954) stated; "There is no geo presumed to be Cape Teal, which, as Needless to say, rhino and giraffe graphical variation throughout this all the ones in "African Lagoon" are egg-rounds were carried out therafter huge and broken range.. Plumage dif siblings, we didn't want to hatch any in a more scheduled fashion. On ferences are entirely individuaL .. " way. Quite aside from its bigness, the August 6, two large eggs were logged Quite aside from his phenomenal day it was retrieved, a female Comb from the giraffe's, while four came out familiarity with museum specimens, Duck (Sarkidomis m. melanotos) had of the White Rhino yard. On August 8, Jean Delacour was especially quali been rude to Stacey Dunlop, our sum I found six more in the White Rhino fied to assert this, having simultane mer mammal keeper (home from Tus Yard, and, on August 13, two were ously maintained specimens from keegee Institute). Grotesquely magnif found in the giraffe's. Mammal staff South America, Madagascar, and icent, Comb Ducks are probably my found another there the next day. A India, at his collection at Cleres (Dela favorite Anatid, and the fact one of our giraffe yard egg I found August 20 is cour, 1954). two females was displaying aggres logged in my own hand as "Hart One will occasionally still run across sion to keepers the day an odd egg laub's?". the name Dendroeygna hieolor helva, was discovered was tantalizing. The mystery as to what was laying bestowed upon the North American Unfortunately, this egg, too, failed to all these large eggs was put to rest population in 1922, by the American show any developement. A fifth gir August 27, when two of the eggs Ornithologists Alexander Wetmore affe egg, again big, was found July 28, found by Stacey and Dan, August 1, and James Peters (Delacour, 1954), but cracked and leaking. hatched in our incubator (set at but subsequent research on this spe It was in the White Rhino yard that 99.5°F, with a wet-bulb reading of 83 cies does not justify this. Stacey and Dan Grandquist, our liter to 86°). The ducklings were gray, a Paul Johnsgard (1978) writes ".. .in ary Large Mammal Keeper, found rather uncommon neonatal color. general [this species] does not appear seven large eggs, which I'd over They were at once identifiable by this to have suffered measurable inroads looked, beneath a log, and gleefully fact combined with a peculiar head from Man's activities." Dr. Johnsgard brought them to coffee break in a pattern. I have written elsewhere does mention a retraction of range in bucket. It was August 1, and they (Lindholm, 1992/93) of the odd Trinidad and California, and notes that were at once placed in the incubator, impression given by ducklings that pesticide poisoning has been a prob as I had no idea when they'd been lack the expected "eyebrow". These lem in Louisiana. Ehrlich et al (1992) laid. I optimistically entered them as ducklings had "eyebrows", but lacked state that the Fulvous Whistling Duck pOSSible Comb Ducks or Hartlaub's the perceived "innocent" appearence is extinct in its former northern and Ducks (Pteronetta hartlauhi') our pair that such an ornament would usually central California ranges, and is of the latter being the gems of our impart.