Radjah Shelduck - Tadorna radjah

The Radjah Shelduck is also known as the Raja Shelduck and is called the Burdekin Duck in Australia. In Australia the bird is protected and it is illegal to harm or disturb them.

Both sexes are similar and are mostly white with some dark chestnut upperparts and a dark chestnut collar. They have green bands on the tops of their wings that can be seen in flight. Legs, feet are pink and the bill is a lighter pink. Juveniles are similar but duller. They may have some of the white areas flecked with gray or brown and the chestnut collar is incomplete.

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Adult

12/10/2013 - San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, San Diego, CA 12/10/2013 - San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, San Diego, CA	12/12/2015 - Grand Hyatt, Kauai, HI 12/12/2015 - Grand Hyatt, Kauai, HI	12/10/2013 - San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, San Diego, CA 12/10/2013 - San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, San Diego, CA
12/10/2013 - San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, San Diego, CA 12/10/2013 - San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, San Diego, CA	12/10/2013 - San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, San Diego, CA 12/10/2013 - San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, San Diego, CA

Diet: Diet is mostly mollusks with lesser amounts of insects, sedge material and algae. Most food is found on land or by dabbling in very shallow water.

Courtship: The breeding season is from the end of the wet season through the beginning of the dry season. The Radjah Shelducks form long-term pair-bonds.

Nesting: Nests are usually built in the hollow limbs of trees and the female incubates the creamy white eggs. Incubation is approximately 30 days.

Habitat and Range: Radjah Shelducks are mostly found in brackish water in coastal marshes, lagoons, mangrove swamps in New Guinea and Australia. Fresh-water ponds are only used during the dry season.

Vocalization: The male has a hoarse whistling sound and the female has a harsh rattle.

Plumage/Molt: Shelducks have two molts but the Radjah Shelduck does not have an alternate plumage.

Migration: They do not migrate long distances but will occupy shallow water in the wet season and move to deeper more permanent lagoons in the dry season.

Tongue/feet: Pink legs and feet.

Bibliography:

• http://en.wikipedia.org The Free Encyclopedia, Accessed January, 2014
• Johnsgard, Paul, Handbook of Waterfowl Behavior: Tribe Tadornini (Sheldgeese and Shelducks),University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1965
• del Hoyo, Josep, Elliott, Andrew, Sargatal, Jordi, et.al., Handbook of the Birds of the World,Lynx Edicions

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