Anas superciliosa
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The Pacific black duck (Anas superciliosa), commonly known as the PBD, is a dabbling duck found in much of Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the Caroline Islands in the north and French Polynesia in the east. It is usually called the grey duck in New Zealand, where it is also known by its Māori name, pārera.
The Pacific black duck was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other ducks, geese and swans in the genus Anas and coined the binomial name Anas superciliosa. Gmelin based his description on the "Supercilious duck" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his A General Synopsis of Birds. The naturalist Joseph Banks had provided Latham with a water-colour drawing of the duck by Georg Forster who had accompanied James Cook on his second voyage to the Pacific Ocean. His picture was drawn at Dusky Sound, a fiord on the southwest corner of New Zealand. This picture is the holotype for the species and is now held by the Natural History... Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sedgwick County Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Slimbridge Wetland Centre | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Parc zoologique et forestier Michel-Corbasson | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Mansfield Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | East Coast Natureworld | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Gladys Porter Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Adelaide Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 9 | Willowbank Wildlife Reserve | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 10 | Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 11 | Kiwi Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 12 | Ipswich Nature Centre | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 13 | Cologne Zoo Aquarium | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pacific Black Duck sighting in Arthur's Pass National Park on a given day, based on 19 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 43rd most-seen of the 48 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pacific Black Duck in Arthur's Pass National Park on a given day, against under 5% in December to October, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pacific Black Duck sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
22nd of 24
Of the 24 parks where we can rate Pacific Black Duck sightings, Arthur's Pass National Park ranks 22nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Royal National Park (Australia, about 40%), Kosciuszko National Park (Australia, about 40%) and Rottnest Island (Australia, about 30%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pacific Black Duck is recorded against all the birds logged in Arthur's Pass National Park (19 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
