This season a flock of several adults and a number of ducklings of Indian Spot-billed Ducks (Anas Poecilorhyncha) are resident at the Samudram Erie. The Indian Spot-Billed is one of three subspecies of the Spot-billed which is also called Grey Duck.
2 Ducks Wading in the Samudram
Samudram Take-off
The wings of the Spot-billed Duck are whitish with black flight feathers, a white-bordered green speculum and white wing coverts. Juveniles are browner and duller than adults.
The Spot-billed which is the size of a domestic duck, is grey with a paler head and neck and scaly-patterned plummage. Its black bill is tipped bright yellow. The sexes are similar except that the male has a red spot on the base of the bill, which is absent or inconspicuous in the female The birds legs are bright orange.
The drake’s call is a hoarse and wheezy but the duck makes a loud quacking sound.
This bird is found in lakes and marshes in open country. It is a surface feeder getting its food by tipping or up-ending in shallow water.When reaching down for food, the tail end of the bird sticks out above the water surface
The nesting season is generally from July to September, depending upon the rains. And the bird’s nest is a pad of grass and weeds among herbage on marshy margins of tanks.
The Indian Spot-billed Duck lays 6 to 12 grey-buff or greenish-white eggs.
For more photos and videos go to this link here.
