Blue Duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos)

Male and female at Arthurs Pass, New Zealand, May 2012.

These endangered ducks are amongst the few white-water specialist ducks in the world.

these are tough ducks. The following photos were taken the same day at the same place. The river where they are is the one that flows down from the valley in the first photo and off to the right. My fingers were just about falling off but the ducks were foraging happily away in the frigid water.

I count myself very fortunate to have seen these birds at Arundel. I can't see them coming back to Europe any time soon.

IanRRobinson said:

I count myself very fortunate to have seen these birds at Arundel. I can't see them coming back to Europe any time soon.

Click to expand...

I count myself very fortunate to have seen them wild in NZ! (also saw the last one at Arundel too but it wasn't quite the same).

I thought they only lived on North Island? If my memory serves me correctly I saw them in the Tongariro(?)National Park. Have they been (re)introduced to the South Island.?

no they've always been found on both islands. Nowadays on the South Island they are mainly up in the mountains where there are fewer predators.