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 this wasa WestIndian web:<http:///www.marksbirdtours.com >) other field guides,but no revelationswere Whisding-Duck[D. arboreal.Went back to forthcoming.Ihat eveningI calledmy wife checkon bird,which was roosting on a log in New Hampshireto checkother resources in WestDitch just southof RailroadDitch. but still had no answers.The next day,we The duckallowed relatively close approach ABSTRACT returnedto thesame area, hoping to relocate 10-15 m. Tooka few moredigital images This articledocuments the appearanceof a the bird. Along the RailroadDitch, we and using my scopelooked for missing West Indian Whistling-Duck(Dendrocygna encounteredanother birder on bicycle,and hind-toe(all toes presentand accounted arborea)of unknown provenanceat the we stoppedto chat.'Did you seethe duck?' for),and there were no bands[on the legs]. Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife he asked. 'What duck?' I asked. 'The West Watched bird for a total of 1.5 hrs 1830 to Refugein the City of Suffolk,Virginia, on 29 Indian Whisthng-Duck!'he saidemphati- 2000using 8x binocularsand 32x scope." Aprfi2003, as well assummarizing the sta- cally.'Oh yes,I photographedit yesterday,' 1 Field-verifiable distinctions from the sim- tus of the speciesand reportedoccurrences saidhappily, as 1 realized that the puzzle was ilar SpottedWhisding-Duck (D. guttata)of on the United States lnainland. solved. Shortly thereafter,I encountered the East Indies and New Guinea include the Schwaband party,also searching[or the larger size, pale lores, pale upperwing FIELDENCOUNTERS duck, from whom I learned more about its coverts,lack of ruddytones in the softparts, Suomala first located the West Indian rarityand its currentcommon name. Unfor- andlack of whitein the uppertailcoverts of Whisthng-Duckwhfie guiding Marjorie and tunately,it couldnot be relocated30 April." the DismalSwamp bird. The conditionof Bill Israelof New Hampshireon a private Schwab first encountered the West Indian plumage,as illustratedin Figures 1-4, tour of the GreatDismal Swamp. Notes on Whistling-Duckwhile conductingfield showspossible slight wear in thecoverts and the encounter were taken as follows. "We work to recordvoices of amphibiansand to flankfeathers. It maynot to possibleto age had driven in on the Railroad Ditch with a captureoddnates [or voucherspecimens. thisbird conclusively, inasmuch as breeding day-passfrom the headquarters.On our Field notes from the first encounter with the of the speciesoccurs year-round, but the returntrip fromkake Drummond, along the duckfollow. "1430 hrs. As I swungthe net plumageof the DismalSwamp bird is less West Ditch, and near the intersectionwith [to capturea Trameacarolina], 1 just about richlycolored and contrastinglymarked in the Railroad Ditch [at 36ø 37.214' N, 76ø steppedinto the ditch and in the process the head than is that of most breeding 31.487'W] in the southwesternportion of flusheda largebird that I firstthought was a adults,which suggests a young bird (Madge the refugein Virginia,we spotteda duck bittern(long legs and neck), when catching and Bum 1988, Startersfieldand Capper closeto theroad, swimming and dabbling xn [sighto[] it out of the comer of my eye. 2000), but the flank patternis well devel- the shallow water. I drove closer to it at a Afterplacing the dragonfly in an envelope,I oped,more so than in a youngerjuvenile very slowrate, and it watchedus carefully turned my attentionback to the bittern, (Madgeand Burn 1988). It maybe safeto but did not flush.I carefullypicked up my which turnedout to be a whistling-duck. sayonly that this bird is probablyunder one cameraand, by movingvery slowly, was able On generalappearance, I thought that it was yearof age. 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