Tye, Alan

West, Barbara

English

Aquatic Commons

26 NOTICIAS DE GALÁPAGOS No. 61
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SECOND GALÁPAGOS RECORD OF THE BLACK-BELLIED TREE-DUCK
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Alan Tye and Barbara West
The black-bellied tree-duck, Dendrocygna autwmwlis,
has apparently been recorded only once in Galápagos
(Harris 1982, Castro and Philips 1996). We report here a
second sighting of the species.*
We initially sighted the bird while it was sitting on a
rock in a brackish lagoon at 'El Otro Lado', Puerto
Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, in the late afternoon of 25
October 1999. The reddish bill was evident. It immedi-
ately took flight, showing the pink legs and repeatedly
giving the loud and distinctive whistling callo The flight
was also distinctive, with head held low, and the diag-
nostic wing-pattern, with black trailing edge and long
white central bar, was easily seen. The foreparts
appeared dark brown, but the bird was seen from the
side too briefly to determine the subspecies. It flew low
over a mangrove fringe towards the sea and was not
seen again.
The date of this observation corresponds with what
might be expected of an individual migrating south
from North or Central America to a wintering area
farther south. The previous record (from a lagoon in
southern Isabela) was of an individual of the southern
race D. a. discolm', which occurs from mainland Ecuador
north to Panama (Harris 1982, Castro and Phillips 1996).
*
Also sometimes known as the black-beIlied (or red-
billed) whistling-duck.
-
Ed.
LITERATURE CITED
Castro, I. and A. rhillips, A. 1996. A Cuide to the Birds of the
Calápagos Islands. Christopher Helm, London.
Harris, M.r. 1982. A Field Cuide to the Birds of Calápagos, 2nd ed.
Collins, London.
AIan Tye, Charles Darwin Research Station,
GaIápagos, Ecuador (e-mail: atye@fcdarwin.org.ec).
Barbara West, Charles Darwin Research Station,
GaIápagos, Ecuador (e-mail: bbwwest@aoI.com).


Second Galápagos record of the black-bellied tree-duck

http://aquaticcommons.org/7478/1/NG_61_2000_Tye%26West_Black-bellied_tree-duck.pdf

Second Galápagos record of the black-bellied tree-duck

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