Order: Anseriformes

Family: Anatidae

 

Size:  up to 56-76 cm

Weight:  1.2 to 2.6 kg

 

Key Features: The goose-like comb duck gets its common name from the large, fleshy, dark grey growth or ‘comb’ on the top of the male’s black beak, an unusual and distinctive structure which enlarges during the breeding season. Male comb ducks are large birds, with glossy blue-black or green-black upperparts, tail and wings, white underparts and pale grey or black flanks. The top of the head and back of the neck are black, and the rest of the head is white, speckled black, with yellow tinges on the sides and on the neck during the breeding season. Narrow black bands run along the sides of the upper breast. The comb duck’s legs and feet are dark grey, and the eyes dark brown. Females are much smaller than males, with less glossy plumage, less well-defined black breast bands, more speckling on the head, which lacks any yellowish tinge, and sometimes with brownish mottling on the underparts. Females may appear almost white, and also lack the male’s ‘comb’. Young comb ducks are brownish, with a dark eye-stripe, and attain adult plumage in the second year.

 

Voice:   silent except for a low croak when flushed.

 

Breeding:  The breeding season is variable, but usually coincides with the rainy season. In some areas comb ducks are monogamous, while in others males may hold small harems of two to four females, which they defend against other males. Between 6 and 20 eggs may be laid, though nests sometimes contain the eggs of more than one female. Incubation lasts 28 to 30 days, and is performed exclusively by the female.

 

Diet: consists mainly of vegetable matter, such as aquatic vegetation, seeds of grasses and sedges, grain (including crops such as rice and corn), as well as various invertebrates, such as aquatic insect larvae and locusts.

 

Habitat: Swamps, rivers and lakes in open or lightly wooded areas, as well as more open grassland, marshes, floodplains, flooded forest, pastures and rice-paddies. Comb ducks are also often seen away from water, flying over woodland or perched in dead trees.

 

Habits: It can become a problem to rice farmers. Knob-billed ducks often perch in trees. They are typically seen in flocks, small in the wet season, up to 100 in the dry season. Sometimes they separate according to sex.

 

Conservation Status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Callaghan, D. (2005) South American comb duck Sarkidiornis sylvicola. In: Kear, J. (Ed.) Ducks, Geese and Swans. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

 

Young, G. (2005) African comb duck Sarkidiornis melanotos. In: Kear, J. (Ed.) Ducks, Geese and Swans. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

 

del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. and Sargatal, J. (1992) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Ostrich to Ducks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

 

Erritzoe, J. (1993) The Birds of CITES and How to Identify Them. The Lutterworth Press, Cambridge.

 

Sinclair, I. and Davidson, I. (2006) Sasol Southern African Birds: A Photographic Guide. Struik, Cape Town.

 

Ogilvie, M.A. and Young, S. (2002) Photographic Handbook: Wildfowl of the World. New Holland Publishers, London.

 

BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Sarkidiornis melanotos. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 05th July, 2014.

 

Photo Courtesy

J.M.Garg, Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons