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Hardhead or White-eyed Duck
Aythya australis
-27.4769, 152.976
Field Notes
Description:
The Hardhead is endemic to Australia, and is also the only true diving duck found in Australia. A striking duck, it medium-sized, mainly rich chocolate brown, with a white undertail. Males have a distinct white eye, while the eye is brown in females. The bill is pale blue on the tip.
Habitat:
A pond at the Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens, established on subtropical woodland. Habitat also liked by other native water birds such as pacific black ducks and dusky moorhens (last shot).
Notes:
The third shot shows the duck's pectens, used as food-strainer and as a comb for preening. Hardheads are true lovers of water and are often seen in lasge numbers in freshwater swamps and wetlands, occasionally in sheltered estuaries. This duck is a vagrant in New Zealand and New Guinea.
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