Pacific Black Duck

Pacific Black Duck

Anas superciliosa

Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~20% · Possible
at Blue Mountains National Park

In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%

1,005 Verified sightings at Blue Mountains National Park From 2019 to 2026
5,154 In all 24 parks
July Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Pacific Black Duck

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 →

Sounds

Flight call0:27

Australia · 2020

© Marc Anderson · XC1044969 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Call0:04

Papua New Guinea · 2010

© Iain Woxvold · XC557633 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Flight call0:11

Australia · 2019

© Ramit Singal · XC495660 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Royal National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~40%
2 Kosciuszko National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~40%
3 Rottnest Island 🇦🇺 Australia
~30%
4 Great Otway National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~30%
5 Noosa National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%
6 Grampians National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%
7 Hattah-Kulkyne National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%
8 Wilsons Promontory National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%
9 Blue Mountains National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%
10 Booderee National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%
11 Maria Island National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%
12 Fiordland National Park 🇳🇿 New Zealand
~10%
13 Kakadu National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~10%
14 Springbrook National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~10%
15 Flinders Ranges National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~10%
16 Litchfield National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~10%
17 Flinders Chase 🇦🇺 Australia
~10%
18 Abel Tasman National Park 🇳🇿 New Zealand
~10%
19 Daintree National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~10%
20 Aoraki Mount Cook National Park 🇳🇿 New Zealand
<5%
21 Freycinet National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
<5%
22 Arthur's Pass National Park 🇳🇿 New Zealand
<5%
23 Rakiura National Park 🇳🇿 New Zealand
<5%
24 Lamington National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Perth 🇦🇺 Australia
~70%
2 Melbourne 🇦🇺 Australia
~60%
3 Brisbane 🇦🇺 Australia
~60%
4 Sydney 🇦🇺 Australia
~50%
5 Hobart 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%
6 Auckland 🇳🇿 New Zealand
~10%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 Sedgwick County Zoo 🇺🇸 United States In captivity
2 Slimbridge Wetland Centre 🇬🇧 United Kingdom In captivity
3 Parc zoologique et forestier Michel-Corbasson 🇫🇷 France In captivity
4 Mansfield Zoo 🇦🇺 Australia In captivity
5 East Coast Natureworld 🇦🇺 Australia In captivity
6 Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park 🇦🇺 Australia In captivity
7 Gladys Porter Zoo 🇺🇸 United States In captivity
8 Adelaide Zoo 🇦🇺 Australia In captivity
9 Willowbank Wildlife Reserve 🇳🇿 New Zealand In captivity
10 Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park 🇦🇺 Australia In captivity
11 Kiwi Park 🇳🇿 New Zealand In captivity
12 Ipswich Nature Centre 🇦🇺 Australia In captivity
13 Cologne Zoo Aquarium 🇩🇪 Germany In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Pacific Black Duck in Blue Mountains National Park?

Possible

About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Pacific Black Duck sighting in Blue Mountains National Park on a given day, based on 1,005 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 41st most-seen of the 196 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Pacific Black Duck in Blue Mountains National Park?

June to March

In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Pacific Black Duck in Blue Mountains National Park on a given day, against about 10% in April and May, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Pacific Black Duck?

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.

Is Blue Mountains National Park the best place to see a Pacific Black Duck?

9th of 24

Of the 24 parks where we can rate Pacific Black Duck sightings, Blue Mountains National Park ranks 9th at about 20%. 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.

Where does the Pacific Black Duck sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Pacific Black Duck is recorded against all the birds logged in Blue Mountains National Park (1,005 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.

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