Subject: White-faced whistling-ducks
Date: Mar 19 11:29:12 1999
From: avocet - avocet at halcyon.com


What I described below is what I saw and only confirmed using my Costa Rica
and Europe guides. It didn't look anything like an Egyptian goose, which
has light brown or white underneath, and both white and green on its wings.
I observed the birds very carefully for over a half-hour, noting down all
the details I described, and am quite sure of the identification. The
facial pattern, wings and underbelly colors, etc., are pretty diagnostic,
according to Birds of Britain and Europe "unmistakeable". the picture on p
376 of the British guide is actually closer to what they looked like than
the Costa Rica guide, and when I first saw them, they were standing up like
a whistling-duck, which is what made me think of that. By the time I had
got home, I was sure I had never seen these birds either in N.America or
Europe, and had pretty much dismissed the whistling-duck thought. I was
pretty surprised to have my initial impression confirmed.

-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph L. Seals <40571 at www1.utech.net>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, March 18, 1999 9:07 PM
Subject: WFWD


>avocet wrote:
>
>"There are three white-faced whistling ducks at Juanita Bay
>Park "those look like whistling ducks" in spite of
>the fact that I've never seen one
>
>Description (I found a picture in the Costa Rica guide when I got home,
>but it doesn't really do them justice):
>
>Bright white face with dark eye
>Back of head black
>Deep cinnamon-colored neck (front and back)
>Dark bill with a ring on the tip
>Black butt, belly, and chest, rising to a point just below the neck
>Barred grey along the sides
>Light brown feathers along the upper back and scapulars
>Black primaries and underwings"
>
>Teresa:
>
>I have out my "Birds of Costa Rica" and the description above sure
>sounds like the bird pictured on Plate 8. I wasn't clear from your post,
>though, whether the description above is what you actually saw or what
>the picture in the book looks like.
>
>I've been with friends more than once who've seen a "whistling duck" of
>some kind at public ponds and parks. The bird was actually an Egyptian
>Goose. With a couple of exceptions, it looks very much like the
>description above. The Egyptian Goose is not an uncommon domesticated
>animal here in the U.S. and has been known to be found among the Chinese
>Geese and yuck ducks of public waters.
>
>Not to say that what you saw wasn't a White-faced Whistling Duck.
>
>Joe
>garden at utech.net
>