<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
:---
<p>
: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.
</p><p>
: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.
</p><p>
:Nesting:
Nests are usually built in the hollow limbs of trees
and the female incubates the creamy white eggs.
Incubation is approximately 30 days.
</p><p> 
: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.
</p><p>
:Vocalization:
The male has a hoarse whistling sound and the female has a harsh rattle.
</p><p>
:Plumage/Molt:
Shelducks have two molts but the Radjah Shelduck
does not have an alternate plumage.
</p><p>
: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.
</p><p>
:Tongue/feet:
Pink legs and feet.
</p><p>
:Bibliography:
w4;January, 2014
b20
b31
</p>