Anatidae
Australian Wood Duck
Chenonetta jubata
The Grazing Mane
- Length
- 48 cm
- Wingspan
- 80 cm
- Family
- Anatidae
Identification
A compact, goose-like duck that prefers grass to open water. The male has a dark brown maned head, a speckled grey body, and a mottled brown breast; the female is paler, with a white line above and below the eye. They walk a golf green as if it were a paddock. Not a dabbler in the black-duck sense — a grazer that happens to be a duck.
Distinctive marks
- Dark brown maned head (male)
- Pale specked grey body
- Short goose-like bill
- Female: pale face-stripes
- Often on grass, not on water
Behaviour & ecology
Pairs and small parties graze like miniature geese on ovals, parkland, and the edges of dams. They nest in a tree hollow, sometimes far from water, and walk the ducklings down. Flight is a sudden, front-heavy decision.
Voice
A rising, nasal 'whew' from the female; the male has a shorter, lower grunt.
On the Peninsula
Golf courses, school ovals, farm dams, and the wetter parks of the Peninsula. They will use a suburban nature strip after rain.
Season
Year-round. Ducklings are a late-winter and spring gift.
Diet
Grasses, herbs, and the odd insect taken while grazing.
Conservation
Secure. A beneficiary of mown grass beside water.
Lore & resonance
They wear a mane as if the afternoon had grown a small, serious horse and then thought better of it. A pair on an oval is the suburb briefly admitting it is still a paddock.
If you would attract them
They come for grass, not bread. A quiet edge of water and an unpoisoned lawn will do. Bread is a harm.
