st In i ,n x hi lin u I / , t ,t h r t Dism 1 S rn N inl A lif R fu e, x ir
DonaldJ. Schwab, Sr. to shootabout a dozenpictures before it a FulvousWhistling-Duck, but something swamfarther away and into thegrasses and aboutit did notjive: theduck had speckles DepartmentofGame and Inland Fisheries shrubs.It wasabout 1230 EST and a sunny in the flanks with a dark band down the day,so l had hopesthat I wouldget good backof theneck, back and top of headwere Williamsburg,Virginia 23188 photographs.My firsttake on identification similarin colorto the FUWD, maybea bit was FulvousWhistling-Duck [Dendrocygna darker. The bill wasblack [though in the (eraall:[email protected]) bicolor], but I knewthat somethingwasn't firstphotos the bill appearslight in color], quiteright andwas particularly puzzled by legsdark gray,w/dark eyes,cheeks, throat Mark Suomala the blackand white pattern on the flanks.1 andsides of necklight gray. [Aftertaking] tookout my NationalGeographic field guide somephotographs (digital), [I] wentto call P.O. Box625 but couldfind no match.Not beingfamiliar TomGwynn. Cell phonewas dead, so had with Caribbeanducks, I thoughtthat per- to drive to point outsideswamp to call. Epsom,New Hampshire 03234 haps this was another race of Fulvous Aftertalking with Tom,I wenthome, down- Whisthng-Duckthat wasnot p•ctured.We loadedphotos, and emailed everyone in my (eraall:[email protected]; headedon ourway, it nowbeing lunchtime. addressbook who might be interested. I stoppedat the headquartersand checked Immediatereply that thiswas a WestIndian web:
164 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS DISCUSSION across.The ditchvaries in depth,but aver- pronouncedpost-breeding dispersal such as In researchingthe habitsand habitatsof ages1.3 m andin mostyears maintains open is oftenseen in FulvousWhistling-Duck in West lndian Whistling-Duck,we find its water. The marshadjoins Railroad Ditch theUnited States. Almost nothing is known appearanceand behaviorin the Dismal Road on the north side, with a mature forest aboutthe species'dispersal or inter-island Swampto be in keepingwith habitatselec- of Red Maple (Acer rubrurn)-•BlackGum movements in the Caribbean. Stockton de tion and behaviorin corerange (cf. Staus (Nyssasylvatica) on the south and west Dod (1978) noted that in the Dotmmcan 1998a, 1998b). This speciesinhabits all boundaries of the marsh. Both Beaver (Cas- Republic,the speciesoccasionally "disap- manner of watercoursesthroughoul its tor canadensis)and Nutria (Myocastorcoy- pears,""usually only for shortperiods in range, including lagoons,swamps, man- pus),along with prescribedburns, maintain January,February, or March." As for other groves,rice fields, and pahn savannas (Raf- thisarea as open wetlands. speciesin the genusDendrocygna, periodic faeleet al. 1998, Stattersfieldand Capper WestIndian Whistling-Ducks feed mostly dispersalsaway from typical range would be 2000), in both freshwater,brackish, and salt at nightand are most often observed at dusk expectedand arepresumed to be drivenin environments.On PuertoRico, even golf whenflying to foragingareas (Raffaele et al. part by habitat shortages,as during coursedevelopments and airport ponds 1998). Except where exceptionally droughts.The springof 2003saw a strong attractsmall numbers (E. S. Brinkley,pers. approachable--ason Jamaicaat the Upper flightof Black-belliedWhistling-Ducks (D. comm.). The beaverpond at the intersec- Morass of the Black River near Elire, or as on autumnalis)north of typicalrange and a tion of Railroad and West Ditches is similar Grand CaymanIsland, where they attend lesserflight of Fu[vousWhistling-Ducks to the sc•rpaceousswamps m which this feedingstations daily (on the famousWillie (Brinkley2003). speciesis oftenfound in its Caribbeanrange. Ebankshog farm), or on variousmilitary The habitat where the duck was observed is installations or retirement communities Distribution,conservation, a seasonallyflooded open marsh. The domi- wherehunting does not occur--theseducks and extralimital records nant vegetativecover is herbaceousand usuallypass the daylight hours concealed in The WestIndian Whistling-Duck is distrib- includesBeggar Tick (Torilisarvensis), cat- thevegetation at variabledistances from for- uted throughmost of the Caribbeanislands tail (Typhasp.), Woolgrass (Scirpus cyperi- agingareas. In areaswhere not regularly from the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and nus), panic-grasses(Panicurn sp.), woody hunted, they can often be closely adjacentislands, as well as in manyof the shrubssuch as Buttonbush(Cephalanthus approachedwhile on the day roost (A. smaller archipelagoseast to the Lesser occidentalis)and willow (Salix sp.), and scat- HaynesSutton, pers. comm.). Antilles(Leeward Islands only), specifically teredsapling Bald Cypress(Taxodium dis- The breedingseason appears to be quite the Bahamas,Turks and Caicos Islands, tichum).The marshis separatedfrom West variableacross the range, as for manytropi- Cuba, Cayman Islands,Jamaica, Haiti, Ditch Roadon the eastside by ditch 7 m calspecies, and we canfind no evidenceof DominicanRepublic, Puerto Rico, Antigua,
m
VOLUME 58 (2004) NUMBER • 165 andBarbuda, where the worldpopulation is conservativelyestimated at between10,000 and 12,000birds (Startersfield and Capper 2003). There are few recent confirmed reporLsfrom the British Virgin Islands, United StatesVirgin Islands,St. Croix, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Barbados,Mar- tinique,or Guadeloupe,and the species may be consideredcasual or extirpatedon these islands(Sorerkson and Bradley1999; k. G. Sorenson,pers. comm.). The nearestnesters to the United States are on Great Abaco Island, Bahamas(K. Radamaker.pers. comm.), which is less than 100 km from Florida.Some sources suggest that the Cuba populationalone may be ashigh as 20,000 birds(Bradley 2000) andthat Cubans refrain fromhunting this whistling-duck because its call is interpretedas ')Cuba libre!"(Raffaele etal. 1998).Because the species is knownto bedeclining over some or mostof theinhab- ited range,the West Indian Whistling-Duck WorkingGroup was convenedin 1997 to gatherdata on this species(Sorerkson 1997, Staus 1997, Sorensonand Bradley1999;
166 NORTH AMERICAN BIRD Ducks recorded in the United States and American Ornithologists'Union in its Kear,J., and G. Williams.1978. Waterfowl at theirprovenance. An unknownnumber of Check-list (1998). risk.Wildfowl 29: 5-21. recordsof West Indian Whistling-Duck In an investigationof all zoosand collec- Madge,S., and H. Burn. 1988.Waterfowl: an exists for Florida (Stevensonand Anderson tionsknown to keepWest Indian Whisding- identificationguide to theducks, geese, and 1994),and none of the recordsand reports Ducksin 2003--involving10 institutions swanso] the world. HoughtonMifflin, of the specieshave been evaluated by the and42 whisding-ducks,most of whichare Boston. Florida OrnithologicalSociety Records held in Iexas and Florida--we were able to Ogden,J. C. 1969. The nestingseason: Committee(per B. Pranty).Free-flying sin- ascertain that no registeredcollection FloridaRegion. Audubon Field Notes 23: glebirds have been reported at VirginiaKey reports having lost an individual. As 651-655. 2 August1969 (Ogden1969) andat Duda Edscorn(1980) writes,"Ihis is a 'nearby Owre, O. T. 1973. A considerationof the Farmsin the BelleGlade farmingdistrict foreign'species able to fly overto Floridain exotic avifauna of southeastern Florida. southeastof LakeOkeechobee 27July 1980 two hoursbut one which,alas, is already Wilson Bulletin. 85: 491-500. (Edscorn 1980). The latter recordwas in an herein collectionsfrom which escapes seem Raffaele,H., J. Wiley,O. Garrido,A. Keith, areathat heldup to 830 Fulvousand two inevitable."Ihe AmericanOrnithologists' andJ. Raffaele.1998. A Guideto thebirds (then rare) Black-belliedWhistling-Ducks Union'sCheck-List (1998) allows that "sight o] the WestIndies. PrincetonUniversity (P W. Sykes,Jr., pers.comm.). Stevenson reportsfrom Florida may be of natural Press,Princeton, New Jersey, and Anderson(1994) note that the sourceof vagrants."Although the provenance of the Renfrow,E 2003. Notes on vagrancyin some of these birds could have been the Virginiaindividual cannot be determinedat Brown-headedNuthatch, with attention CrandonPark Zoo on KeyBiscayne in the this time, we feel that this record. the first to to recentrange expansion and long-term 1960sand 1970s,which failed to pinion bedocumented with physical evidence away habitatchanges. North American Birds 57: WestIndian Whistling-Ducks "held captive" from Bermudaand the Caribbean,should be 422-428. there. Their reference to a "Gold Coast" consideredat least as a potentialwild Scott, D. A., and M. Carbonell. 1986. A recordof the speciesis apparentlya mis- vagrantin lightof (1) thenorthward irrup- Directoryo] Neotropicalwetlands. Interna- readingof Edscorn(1980). Owre (1973) tion of congenersin spring2003, (2) the tional Union for Conservation of Nature suggeststhat a smallfetal populationmay appearance,habitat selection, and behavior and NaturalResources, Cambridge, U.K., havedeveloped in Florida. Sucha popula- of the bird, and (3) the lack of evidenceof and International Waterfowl Research tion would have been difficult to detect, escapeesin NorthAmerica in recentyears. Bureau.Slimbridge. U.K. giventhe retiring habits of thisspecies and It is our hopethat observers of thisspecies Sorenson,L. G. 1997. Updateon theWest the extensivemangrove habitat available at will archivedocumentation on thisspecies Indian Whistling-Duckand Wetlands that time in southern Florida. with respectiverecords committees so that a ConservationProject. El Pitirre 10: Texasalso has several records or reports clearerpicture of this species'extralimital 108-109. for the species.Data on file in the Royal distributionmight emerge in the future. Sorenson,L.G., and P Bradley,1999. Update Ontario Museum, Ottawa, Canadacredits J. on the West Indian Whistling-Duck H. Flemingfor theremark on a specimenof Acknowledgments (W1WD) and Wedands Conservation WestIndian Whisding-Duck: "original label We wishto thankPaul W Sykes,Jr. for dis- ProjectReport from the WIWD Working lost, camewith other Dendrocygnafrom cussionof the Duda Farms, Florida record, Group.El Pitirre11: 126-131. Brownsville,Texas, that were taken from and Kurt Radamaker for discussion of the Sorenson,L. G., P E. Bradley,and A. H. Sut- 1891-1894;this is anArmstrong skin and is Abaconesting records. Greg Lasley, Mark ton.in press.Ihe WestIndian Whistling- no doubt a Texas record" (ROM electronic Lockwood,Lisa Sorerison, and Ann Haynes Duckand Wedands Conservation Project: database,per N Collar). An adult West Suttonalso supplied useful information on a modelfor speciesand wetland IndianWhistling-Duck discovered in Austin, Texas and Caribbean records and status. conservationand education.Journal o] TravisCounty in April 1992remained in the CaribbeanOrnithology. area until 1995; it was determinedto have Literature cited Startersfield,A. J., andD. R. Capper.2000. come from a local collection. This record American Ornithologists'Union. 1998. Threatenedbirds o] the world. Lynx, was reviewedby the TexasBird Records Check-listo] NorthAmerican Birds_ Sev- Barcelona,Spain. [also available on-line: Committeeand rejected on groundsof enth edition. AmericanOrnithologists'
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