From childhood, I'd say the northern shoveler, due to its beak
Whats your favorite species of duck?
- Thread starter CheeseChameleon1945
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Their call is a favorite of mine.
For calls, Common Eider, with its suggestive “oooh!”
Long-tailed Duck, I love their call. I've seen in the wild before, but never a male in the breeding plumage. This is one of the biggest birding goals of mine.
I finally caught up with breeding plumage males when twitching American White-winged Scoter near Edinburgh; they are smart birds!
Smews, just look at it. My precious toothy boy.
I saw a picture of them in Willowbank Wildlife Reserve from 2005. Not sure if they are still there.
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Between the ones I'm aware of, I'd say steamer duck; fuegian steamer duck for aesthetics, flying steamer duck for behaviour.
Thank you for the mention, @Onychorhynchus coronatus, although everything I know about the project comes from a brief skim through the National Action Plan summary and other Internet sources, such as news and the consultant Youtube channel, despite I've already visited Zooparque Itatiba once. You'd be surprised to know that birds aren't my favorite animal class either xDTo see the Brazilian Merganser in the wild you need to go to the Serra da Canastra National park in the State of Minas Gerais which is one of the most beautiful protected areas in Brazil IMO.
There is a very strong chance of seeing other threatened Brazilian fauna here too and especially mammals like the giant anteater, maned wolf, pampas deer (and of course countless seriemas
). If you are really lucky you could even catch a glimpse of some of the more cryptic species like the pampas cat or the giant armadillo.
A friend of mine runs ecotours to the park and one of these is a seasonal birding trip to try to observe the mergansers but I haven't done this yet as I am not very much of a birder. I have only really gone over to this park to try to spot the mammals and so far have got quite lucky with what I've managed to see there.
To see the merganser in captivity (not sure if it is on public display though or kept behind the scenes) there is the Zooparque Itatiba here in São Paulo state which has a captive breeding program for the species
@FelipeDBKO knows much more about this program at this particular zoo and would be able to tell more.
I'd like to add that there are three other significant populations: in Patrocínio municipality (also in the state of Minas Gerais), Jalapão State Park and Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park. I'm not familiar with their respective touristical availabilities, but all of them have records in birdwatching websites such as eBird and WikiAves, and the captive breeding program team has already executed egg-collection expeditions to all four mentioned places.
The mergansers are all kept behind the scenes, and I'm unaware of any private guided tour.
And I don't mean to alter the thread's subject, but I'm curious about what you managed to encounter at Serra da Canastra! The dim figure of a giant armadillo included maybe?
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Brilliant post Felipe ! Thanks for sharing this information as I dont really know very much about the merganser either.
I haven't actually seen giant armadillos at Serra da Canastra National park (in fact I've never seen this species either in captivity or the wild) but I've seen ample evidence there of their tracks and burrows etc so they are definitely in residence (probably not at the same population densities as in the Pantanal though).
However, I have seen some of the other species that occur in the park like the maned wolf, the pampas deer, the giant anteater, the pampas fox, crabeating fox, coati, six banded armadillo, black eared marmosets, capybara, rhea, toco toucan, seriema, caracara (and many other species of birds but I can't recall a lot of their names, I'm really terrible with remembering birds actually).
The species that I would have really wanted to see there are the bush dog and the pampas cat but these are very cryptic so the chances were very slim and of course I didn't catch a glimpse of these.
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Easy answer - the Eurasian Eider, especially the two subspecies which occur wild in my neck of the woods 
can't get much better than a "Cuddy Duck" as they are called in this area.
can't get much better than a "Cuddy Duck" as they are called in this area.
There is no way I can decide which duck is my favourite. The smart looks of the Common Eider, the flamboyant plumage of a Mandarin Duck, even the subtle patterns of Gadwall, I adore them all. The whistle of a group of Eurasian Wigeons symbolizes the feeling of winter for me, my heart just skips a beat when I see a Goosander swim by, and seeing my first Pink-eared Ducks in the Tierpark was one of the highlight of my entire trip to Berlin. And who would not be amazed by the stunning iridescent green of an ordinary Mallard drake, if the species was but a bit less common?
Yet, sometimes unexpected things happen. A few summers ago I visited Zoologischer Garten Magdeburg, a zoo that has a particular love of odd species and ducks are no exception. On one of their many ponds there was a gorgeous male (African) Southern Pochard, in full breeding plumage. It was just so stunningly beautiful, it's head almost glowing in the sunshine, that I had a very hard time to pull myself away to see the rest of the zoo. But if I look up pictures of the species I don't understand why I was so amazed by it. Sure, it is a neat bird, but it is really that much better than other diving ducks? Maybe the light was just perfect, maybe that bird was an exceptionally gorgeous specimen, or maybe their beauty can't be entirely captured in photographs. I don't know, because I haven't seen the species ever since. Needless to say, I'm eagerly awaiting the moment I meet a Southern Pochard again.
Yet, sometimes unexpected things happen. A few summers ago I visited Zoologischer Garten Magdeburg, a zoo that has a particular love of odd species and ducks are no exception. On one of their many ponds there was a gorgeous male (African) Southern Pochard, in full breeding plumage. It was just so stunningly beautiful, it's head almost glowing in the sunshine, that I had a very hard time to pull myself away to see the rest of the zoo. But if I look up pictures of the species I don't understand why I was so amazed by it. Sure, it is a neat bird, but it is really that much better than other diving ducks? Maybe the light was just perfect, maybe that bird was an exceptionally gorgeous specimen, or maybe their beauty can't be entirely captured in photographs. I don't know, because I haven't seen the species ever since. Needless to say, I'm eagerly awaiting the moment I meet a Southern Pochard again.
I have learned a lot about ducks as I worked on my Fantasy Zoo. It would be hard to top the Torrent Duck for its combination of equally beautiful but strikingly different male and female plumage with a remarkable lifestyle.
A male Cinnamon Teal in full breeding plumage is jaw-droppingly beautiful. There is certainly no match in the waterfowl world for the facial markings of the male Spectacled and King Eiders. The Mandarin Duck can stop traffic with its looks. And ever since a childhood coloring book of birds, I've loved the looks of the male Wood Duck. If you really love ducks, just go to birdsoftheworld.org, start with the Spotted-Whistling Duck and just page through (using the right arrow) (this will also take you through the geese and swans as well as all the ducks). You don't need a membership to see the first page for each species. You might just find a new favorite duck.
Julian
New Member
Thank you @CheeseChameleon2007 for starting this thread! As you say, Anseriformes are unfortunately very underrated, especially in zoos. Incomprehensible, because waterfowl are very attractive and fascinating in my opinion. Fortunately, the interest in waterfowl as well the number of waterfowl in zoos has increased in recent years.
It is difficult to choose a favorite. Each species has its characteristics that distinguish it from other species. I can spend hours watching the foraging behavior of Pink-eared ducks, while the courtship of Long-tailed ducks at dusk gives me goosebumps. But if I had to choose one species, I would choose the White-winged wood duck. From the first moment I saw this species, I was intrigued by their appearance.
It is difficult to choose a favorite. Each species has its characteristics that distinguish it from other species. I can spend hours watching the foraging behavior of Pink-eared ducks, while the courtship of Long-tailed ducks at dusk gives me goosebumps. But if I had to choose one species, I would choose the White-winged wood duck. From the first moment I saw this species, I was intrigued by their appearance.
Coo! Very tricky, but I think it's the common eider.
How? There are Mandarin ducks in North America??
They've been introduced over here but I never heard of any introductions across the pond...
Anyways, my favourite duck species in terms of looks is probably the King eider, and for character probably the White-faced whistling duck.