Whistling ducks make rare Canadian appearance in N.B. & More News Here

Just as a result of it does not stroll like a duck, or quack like a duck, does not imply it is not a duck. 

It may be a black-bellied whistling duck like those attracting consideration at a man-made pond close to Bathurst lately. 

Pond proprietor Hazen McCrea mentioned he wasn’t positive what he was taking a look at when he first spied the birds final week. He mentioned they did not sound like ducks, and so they walked extra like people.

“Is it a duck? It doesn’t walk like a duck. It walks, it doesn’t waddle,” mentioned McCrea. 

“That’s what confused me. What kind of different funny duck is this?” he puzzled.

He and his spouse, Karen, instantly checked their chicken books and could not determine the species. Their son occurred to be visiting, and he checked on-line and inside two minutes had recognized the chicken as a black-bellied whistling duck.

WATCH | Listen to the decision of black-bellied whistling ducks

The species is initially from South America and isn’t seen in Canada, mentioned birder Alain Clavette. 

While it is definitely a good distance from its typical northern vary in the southern United States, Clavette mentioned it is common for wayward flocks to enterprise north, though it is rare for them to make it this far. 

He mentioned he would have been extra stunned to listen to of a single chicken exhibiting up, since they like to journey in teams. 

“This is quite rare,” mentioned Lucas Berrigan of Birds Canada in regards to the northern sighting. 

He suspects the flock is similar one seen close to Yarmouth, N.S., two weeks in the past.

“So you don’t really see them for several years and then once in a while you’ll get a flock like this,” mentioned Berrigan.

“And this is a known phenomenon … it’s a species that when they occur in a place as a rare bird or a vagrant, as it’s known, they will disappear and then they’ll be found somewhere else.”

When it was in Nova Scotia, the flock contained 9 birds, and by the point it arrived in the Bathurst space numbers ranged between 9 and 11. 

Berrigan mentioned 11 have been noticed in Camden, Maine, on April 29, and 11 have been seen in Birchy Bay, northeastern Newfoundland, on May 14. Ten have been recognized in Cape Forchu, N.S., on May 16 and 11 in Bathurst on May 23 or 24. 

If they’re the identical flock, Berrigan mentioned, they’d have flown:

• Camden to Birchy Bay, May 13 and 14 — 1,200 km.
• Birchy Bay to Cape Forchu, May 14 to 16 — 1,000 km.
• Cape Forchu to Bathurst, May 23 and 24 — 450 km.

McCrea mentioned he noticed 11 at one time, however two of them appear to have disappeared in latest days.

Berrigan does not assume they’re in staying in New Brunswick completely. 

“It’s most likely that they’ll keep moving. They don’t stick around for stops so long. Most of the time they’ll be around for a few days or a week and then they’ll keep going.”

He suspects they will finally make their approach again south. 

Experts aren’t positive why the birds have made a rare northern appearance, however McCrea is fairly positive they’re sticking round for the “chicken buffet” he is been leaving for them over the previous couple of days. He’s been feeding them cracked corn that is usually fed to chickens. 

And they’ve attracted fairly a following, mentioned McCrea. Birders have been flocking to the pond from as far-off as Edmundston and Saint John. 

Dieppe birder and photographer Andrew Darcy mentioned he heard in regards to the sighting on Monday and jumped in the automotive immediately to go to McCrea’s pond in South Tetagouche. By the time he arrived, 20 different folks have been already there. 

Darcy mentioned there was a sighting final yr of six black-bellied whistling ducks in Atholville, however they have been gone earlier than he had an opportunity to see them. 

McCrea mentioned guests have been snapping selfies with the ducks, since they’re fairly docile and amenable to having people close by. 

Berrigan says that is fairly typical of the species. He mentioned they’re simply approachable. But he doubts that is a sign that they are escapees from a home state of affairs. 

He mentioned wildlife officers have not discovered any of the same old telltale indicators of domestication, like tags or clipped wings and nails. He mentioned the species is simply “quite tame.” 

Clavette additionally believes it is a wild inhabitants that has simply determined to discover exterior its regular habitat. 

He has seen a number of of them in their standard territory in Texas and Louisiana, so he wasn’t motivated sufficient to journey to see this flock. 

He mentioned ducks that whistle aren’t unusual to New Brunswick. He mentioned a variety of tree ducks are whistlers, together with the wooden duck, which is frequent in New Brunswick. 

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