I agree - given its range, they're hardly likely to have gotten here
naturally. But I'm one of those who is still excited to see them,
particularly in such a natural setting as Juanita Bay Park. I doubt I'll
ever get to see this species in the wild.

Being a curator, I'm interested in your impression of how a "zoo duck" would
behave. These ducks were avoiding people, and not looking for handouts.
They were not anywhere near the boardwalks or land, and were staying to
marshy areas. Juanita Bay is not particularly known for having "park ducks"
that I have ever seen - unlike Greenlake, for example. The bird life there
is pretty wild, and people-bird interactions are discouraged by access
restrictions and signage. That doesn't mean an escaped duck wouldn't be
attracted to it, just that I would have expected an escaped duck to be
looking for a feeding. As presumed escapees, I was also surprised to see
three together - must have been a pretty big hole in the fence!! - Teresa

-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Toffic <greg.toffic at zoo.org>
To: avocet at halcyon.com <avocet at halcyon.com>; tweeters at u.washington.edu
<tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, March 19, 1999 11:52 AM
Subject: Re: White-faced whistling-ducks


>Before anyone gets too excited about rushing out to Juanita Bay just to add
white-faced whistling duck to his/her list, keep in mind that this species
is very commonly kept (and sometimes not securely kept) in zoo collections
and private waterfowl breeder collections. These birds are certainly
escapees, or possibly were purposely released. That shouldn't stop anyone
from going to look at them as they are certainly beautiful ducks.