Wary whitefaced ducks

The whitefaced duck or in Afrikaans nonnetjie-eend (little nun duck) is a medium sized, mainly brown duck with a notably erect chestnut neck. It is, however, the white face and front part of the head that bring recognition instantly.

Not an ordinary duck, it belongs to a worldwide subfamily called whistling ducks represented by eight extant species in the tropics and subtropics. These ducks all have distinctive whistling calls, long necks, long legs and characteristically roost in large flocks.

Whitefaced ducks are found in the eastern parts of South Africa and a part of the far southwest of the Western Cape. Further afield they occur widespread in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as in South America, usually near inland rivers, lakes and dams.

They eat seeds, buds, fruit, grass, tubers, rhizomes and algae, as well as insect larvae, molluscs and crustaceans.

The nest is a straw-lined hollow hidden in tall grass or aquatic vegetation, seldom lined with down. Four to sixteen creamy white eggs are hatched during the warmer months within about four weeks; the young attended to by both parents for about two months (Maclean, 1993; Wikipedia).