| A large duck, more goose-like in size and shape, with an
obvious red bill, blackish-green head, white and black body with an orange
band around the chest. They can be found all around the coast on estuaries,
mudflats and sandy shores where they filter the mud or wet sand for their
staple food of Hydrobia ulvea, a tiny snail. Their bills, like all ducks,
have tiny plates known as lamellae along each side which they use when filtering.
Males have a knob on the bill while the females have a narrower orange band
around the chest. The young have an orange band, a white face and throat,
greyish-brown plumage and lack the orange band. |
