Whistling ducks make rare Canadian appearance in N.B.

Just because it doesn't walk like a duck, or quack like a duck,doesn't mean it isn't a duck.

It might be a black-bellied whistling duck like the ones attracting attention ata man-made pond near Bathurstrecently.

Pond owner Hazen McCrea said he wasn't sure what he was looking at when he first spied the birds last week. He said theydidn't sound like ducks, and theywalked more like humans.

"Is it a duck? It doesn't walk like a duck. It walks, it doesn't waddle," said McCrea.

"That's what confused me. What kind of different funny duck is this?" he wondered.

He and his wife, Karen, immediately checked their bird books and couldn't identify the species. Their son happened to be visiting, and he checked online and within two minutes had identified the bird as a black-bellied whistling duck.

WATCH | Listen to the call of black-bellied whistling ducks

These ducks don't quack, they whistle

2 years ago

Duration 0:39

Black-bellied whistling ducks, originally from South America, were spotted near Bathurst.

The species is originally from South America and is rarely seen in Canada, said birder Alain Clavette.

While it's certainly a long way from its typical northern range in the southern United States, Clavette said it's not unusual for wayward flocks to venture north, although it's rare for them to make it this far.

He said he would have been more surprised to hear of a single bird showing up, since they prefer to travel in groups.

"This is quite rare," said Lucas Berriganof Birds Canadaabout the northern sighting.

He suspects the flock is the same one seen near Yarmouth, N.S.,two weeks ago.

"So you don't really see them for several years and then once in a while you'll get a flock like this," said Berrigan.

"And this is a known phenomenonit's a species that when they occur in a place as a rare bird or a vagrant, as it's known, they will disappear and then they'll be found somewhere else."

When it was in Nova Scotia, the flock containednine birds, and by the time it arrived in the Bathurst areanumbers ranged between nine and 11.

Berrigan said 11 were spotted in Camden, Maine, on April 29, and 11 were seen in Birchy Bay, northeastern Newfoundland,on May 14. Ten were identified in Cape Forchu, N.S., on May 16and 11 in Bathurst on May 23 or 24.

If they're the same flock, Berrigan said, they would have flown:

• Camden to Birchy Bay, May 13 and 14 1,200 km.
• Birchy Bay to Cape Forchu, May 14to 16 1,000 km.
• Cape Forchuto Bathurst, May 23 and 24 450 km.

McCrea said he saw 11 at one time, but two of them seem to have disappeared in recent days.

Berrigan doesn't think they're interested in staying in New Brunswick permanently.

"It's most likely that they'll keep moving. They don't stick around for stops so long. Most of the time they'll be around for a few days or a week and then they'll keep going."

He suspects they'll eventually make their way back south.

Experts aren't sure why the birds have made a rare northern appearance, but McCrea is pretty sure they're sticking around for the "chicken buffet" he's been leaving for them over the last few days. He's been feeding them cracked corn that's normally fed to chickens.

And they've attracted quite a following, said McCrea. Birders have been flocking to the pond from as far away as Edmundston and Saint John.

Dieppe birder and photographer Andrew Darcy said he heard about the sighting on Monday and jumped in the car right away to head to McCrea's pond in South Tetagouche. By the time he arrived, 20 other people were already there.

Darcy said there was a sighting last year of six black-bellied whistling ducks in Atholville, but they were gone before he had a chance to see them.

McCrea said visitors have been snapping selfies with the ducks, since they're quite docile and amenable to having humans nearby.

Berrigan says that's quite typical of the species. He said they're easily approachable. But he doubts that's an indication that they're escapees from a domestic situation.

He said wildlife officials haven't found any of the usual telltale signs of domestication, like tags or clipped wings and nails. He said the species is just "quite tame."

Clavette also believes it's a wild population that has just decided to explore outside its normal habitat.

He has seen several of them in their usual territory in Texas and Louisiana, so he wasn't motivated enough to travel to see this flock.

He said ducks that whistle aren't uncommon to New Brunswick. He said a lot of tree ducks are whistlers, including the wood duck, which is common in New Brunswick.