Dendrocygna bicolor
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The fulvous whistling duck or fulvous tree duck (Dendrocygna bicolor) is a species of whistling duck that breeds across the world's tropical regions in much of Mexico and South America, the West Indies, the southern United States, sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent. It has plumage that is mainly reddish brown, long legs and a long grey bill, and shows a distinctive white band across its black tail in flight. Like other members of its ancient lineage, it has a whistling call which is given in flight or on the ground. Its preferred habitat consists of wetlands with plentiful vegetation, including shallow lakes and paddy fields.
The nest, built from plant material and unlined, is placed among dense vegetation or in a tree hole. The typical clutch is around ten whitish eggs. The breeding adults, which pair for life, take turns to incubate, and the eggs hatch in 24–29 days. The downy grey ducklings leave the nest within a day or so of hatching, but the parents continue to protect them until they fledge around nine weeks later.
The fulvous whistling duck feeds in wetlands by day or night on seeds and other parts of plants. It is sometimes regarded as a pest of rice cultivation, and is also shot for food in parts of its range. Despite hunting, poisoning by pesticides and natural predation by mammals, birds, and reptiles, the large numbers and huge range of this duck mean that it is classified as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lago de Yojoa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 2 | Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 3 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Palo Verde National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 7 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 9 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 10 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 11 | Akagera National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 12 | Lake Manyara National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 13 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 14 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 15 | Padre Island National Seashore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 17 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 18 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 19 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 20 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 21 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 22 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 23 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 2 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | Antananarivo | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 4 | N'Djamena | 🇹🇩 Chad | |
| 5 | Chennai | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Puducherry | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 9 | Guayaquil | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 10 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Fulvous Whistling-Duck sighting in Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park on a given day, based on 149 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 113th most-seen of the 293 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Fulvous Whistling-Duck in Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park on a given day, against under 5% in November, the lowest month.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Fulvous Whistling-Duck sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 23
Of the 23 parks where we can rate Fulvous Whistling-Duck sightings, Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Lago de Yojoa (Honduras, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Fulvous Whistling-Duck is recorded against all the birds logged in Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park (149 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.
