Alice Springs — Musk Duck

Alice Springs Birds •

Alice Springs BirdsAlice Springs Birds — image index Babblers Black-faced Cuckooshrike Brown Falcon Channel-billed Cuckoo Crested Pigeon Galah Magpie-lark Musk Duck Port Lincoln Ringneck Rainbow Bee-eater Sacred Kingfisher Sanderling Spinifex Pigeon Singing Honeyeater Southern Boobook Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Splendid Fairy-wren Spotted Dove Wedge-tailed Eagle Western Bowerbird Whistling Kite White-plumed Honeyeater Willie Wagtail Yellow-throated Miner

The Musk Duck (Biziura lobata) is a large stiff-tailed duck with a heavy triangular bill that is native to southern Australia. Both the male and female are dark grey in colour, the male having an obvious lobe of skin dangling from its chin. Usually observed on the water, regularly diving while feeding.

The legs of the Musk Duck are placed far back on the body, an aid for swimming and diving, however it does make them clumsy walkers and unlike other duck species, they prefer to stay in the water. They are very rarely seen on land.

The Musk Duck derives its common name from the musky odour that emanates during the breeding season.

The only living member of the genus Biziura, two subspecies are named (with an East-West Genetic Differentiation), although many site only list the single species.¹

This is the first documented sighting of the Musk Duck in Alice Springs and the Northern Territory. 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.

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• Scientific classification
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Subphylum: Vertebrata
• Informal: Gnathostomata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Anseriformes
• Family: Anatidae
• Genus: Biziura
• Species: Biziura lobata
• Subspecies:
  • Biziura lobata lobata Shaw, 1796
  • Biziura lobata menziesi Mathews, 1914

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Alice Springs BirdsAlice Springs Birds — image index Babblers Black-faced Cuckooshrike Brown Falcon Channel-billed Cuckoo Crested Pigeon Galah Magpie-lark Musk Duck Port Lincoln Ringneck Rainbow Bee-eater Sacred Kingfisher Sanderling Spinifex Pigeon Singing Honeyeater Southern Boobook Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Splendid Fairy-wren Spotted Dove Wedge-tailed Eagle Western Bowerbird Whistling Kite White-plumed Honeyeater Willie Wagtail Yellow-throated Miner

Alice Springs FaunaAlice Springs Native Bees Alice Springs Beetles Alice Springs Birds Alice Springs Gastropods (Gastropoda) Alice Springs Insects Alice Springs Marsupials Alice Springs Reptiles Alice Springs Spiders

Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Apple Bush Bougainvillea Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander