Some 2011 favourites
Aah the south Georgian pintail... So under-rated! Their proportions; from the roundness of the head to the curve of the belly are totally perfect. Despite this delicacy however they exude a sort of.. stoutness, which goes a long way to explaining their attitude in later life...
This little female was one of 1:5 hatched out at WWT Slimbridge this season, and she really is quite the poser. They currently occupy a small niche in the "teal" pen within the OSD. Here, the majority of the small brown jobs are benefiting from an early autumn coddle. With a high protein presence in their food, they are bulking up nicely for the winter.
As youngsters they are very friendly but as they mature and begin to pair up the relationship between the sexes can become more exaggerated. The male desire to mate means that we have to exhibit them in even or heavily weighted female ratios because the girls can begin to suffer. It is such a disappointment that they do not work together in large groups, because they really are a beautiful perching species. Silly or not, they are such sweeties as juveniles that you can even presume to take it personally when the males turn nasty :(
You can forgive them slightly when you look further into their wild activities. When birds are kept in captivity where certain aspects of their innate natures remain dormant, they can appear under-stimulated. In the wild they are vastly omnivorous, feeding on vegetation, marine and freshwater algae, crustaceans and even scvaeneged meats such as seal flesh.
They are very tidy feeders, ripping off small chunks of flesh from holes in the carcass and washing off their feathers regularly. Their stocky build helps to buffer them from their frozen coastal environment, which is both mountainous and barren. They breed in small tussocks with an excellent attention to secrecy; walking a short distance before flight and landing a few hundred yards away so as not to attract un-wanted attention. I have never ever seen a south Georgian on the nest.
No matter how hard you sneak, they can hear you coming. This can often mean that bad management and un-necessary stresses can cause eggs to fail. Through worrying about abandonment, in checking the nest regularly you can actually cause it. As the birds pair for life, if you have a good breeding pair, you really neddn't worry! To my mind then it is no wonder that they are a little bit bored with the temperate Severn valley...
We are very lucky at Slimbridge to have such true examples of the breed, as many collections have been marred through accidental introductions of Chilean pintail geneology.
The Fulvous whistling duck is a species of whistler that I previously thought vacuous, but have now taken a shine to. The males in particular are ever so handsome, with that blunt back of the skull and that stream-lined frown they seem to take life very seriously. The species has been semi-domesticised over the years with colours ranging from white to champagne, but these three are the real deal.
They prove an entertaining spectacle at the moment. Whistlers have an innate knowledge of their exact species. No matter what mixed group they are reared in, they soon fragment into their species factions. We have a "whistler" pen along with the "teal pen" where they are all integrated together throughout the autumn. On most sunny days the White-face (which is the largest species group) can be found fully benefiting from the golden rays. Second to them come the East-indian lurking around the edges of shadow like un-nerved bullies, third the southern-reds and lastly the Fulvous in the corner. During feed time they can been seen upon opposite sides of the water channel, "fwee hee hee-ing" at each other in aggitation. It is as if they are playing at Risk!
In terms of wild activity, there is much more that I could learn... I know they feed mostly nocturnally upon seeds and roots in marshy areas and paddy fields throughout Africa. Their numbers are high and relatively stable, and they breed freely in large groups. Unfortunately then, this new interest is purely aesthetic. Sorry!
