Anas superciliosa
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pacific Black Duck sighting in Auckland on a given day, based on 236 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 53rd most-seen of the 93 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November to March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pacific Black Duck in Auckland on a given day, against under 5% in April 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.
6th of 6
Of the 6 cities where we can rate Pacific Black Duck sightings, Auckland ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Perth (Australia, about 70%), Melbourne (Australia, about 60%) and Brisbane (Australia, about 60%).
Same genus: Anas
The closest relatives of the Pacific Black Duck that you can see in Auckland (genus Anas, Mallards, Pintails, and Allies) are Mallard (about 50%) and Grey Teal (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pacific Black Duck is recorded against all the birds logged in Auckland (236 verified sightings), 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.
