BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS REVISITED…

The first ever Black-bellied Whistling Ducks recorded for Abaco arrived last June. Six birds turned up on South Abaco in the Crossing Rocks area and slowly worked their way north via Delphi, Bahama Palm Shores and Casuarina. They split up into smaller groups. Two were seen near the airport. Eventually, after 3 weeks or so, the sightings and reports ceased. The BBWDs had moved on, presumably to Florida.

I mention them now because this June, a flock of 13 birds arrived on a golf course in Bermuda. The only previous recorded sighting of the species had been a single bird spotted in 2006. Within a couple of weeks, the birds had disappeared again. It’s strange that in consecutive years, June sightings have occurred on two islands where they are not a known species. I happen to have taken some photos of BBWDs elsewhere in the meantime, and I thought these pretty ducks deserved further exposure…

A BBWD LOVE STORY

Hello! Would you like to preen with me?

Yes I would. As long as there are no paparazzi around.

Mmmmmm. This is so great!

I’d like to look after you and protect you

Let me take you under my wing…

GODDAMMIT. Pigeon photobomb!

THE END

BBWDS ON ABACO

All photos by RH at WWT Barnes

ADDENDUM

The photos above, except a missing final one, were taken by me at WWT Wildlife & Wetland Centre, Barnes, London, about a year later than the first sighting. The final photo (now excised) was re-used in error, probably because a year had passed and it carried over in a rewrite. It should have read ‘all but the last one’.

The caption ‘All photos by RH at WWT Barnes’ did not apply to the final image by Diliff (who featured, credited, in my previous post on these birds) but only to those above it.

Apologies for not having spotted this misattribution at the time, nor until the matter was raised in May 2026