Biziura lobata
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The musk duck (Biziura lobata) is a highly aquatic, stiff-tailed duck native to southern Australia. It is the only living member of the genus Biziura. An extinct relative, the New Zealand musk duck or de Lautour's duck (B. delautouri), once occurred on New Zealand, but is only known from prehistoric subfossil bones. It was about 8% longer than the living species, with a particularly large head.
This animal derives its common name from the peculiar musky odour it emanates during the breeding season. Musk ducks are moderately common through the Murray-Darling and Cooper Creek basins, and in the wetter, fertile areas in the south of the continent: the southwest corner of Western Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania.
Adult males are 60 to 70 cm (24 to 28 in) long and have a distinctive large, leathery lobe underneath the bill; females are 47 to 55 cm (19 to 22 in) long and unadorned. Their drab dark grey-brown, slightly pin-striped plumage is inconspicuous and does not differ between the sexes. This species weighs an average of 2,398 g (5.287 lb) in males and 1,551 g (3.419 lb) in females, with the smallest females weighing only 993 g (2.189 lb) and the largest males weighing... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flinders Chase | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Grampians National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Hattah-Kulkyne National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Great Otway National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taronga Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Musk Duck sighting in Great Otway National Park on a given day, based on 38 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 139th most-seen of the 175 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Musk Duck in Great Otway National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Musk 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.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Musk Duck sightings, Great Otway National Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Flinders Chase (Australia, about 10%), Grampians National Park (Australia, under 5%) and Hattah-Kulkyne National Park (Australia, under 5%).
Same family: Anatidae
The closest relatives of the Musk Duck that you can see in Great Otway National Park (family Anatidae, Ducks, Geese, and Swans) are Pacific Black Duck (about 30%), Australian Wood Duck (about 30%) and Chestnut Teal (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Musk Duck is recorded against all the birds logged in Great Otway National Park (38 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.
