The Ducks of Sri Lanka
For a very long time, I thought wild ducks were exotic creatures confined to the chilly marshes of Europe. It was probably because of The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen, where the eponymous “duckling” (spoilers: he’s actually a cygnet) is rejected by the birds on the farm he was hatched in, and flees to the cold, bleak marshes, where he is rejected again by the wild ducks that live there. I remember the picture had a brightly coloured Mallard, among other ducks, scornfully staring at the poor “duckling”.
I was about eleven years old, and very surprised to see a picture of a Lesser Whistling-teal in a coffee-table portfolio of birds - described as a common resident in lowland paddyfields and marshes. No way, I thought. It probably was very rare. There was no way I could spot one in the paddyfields of Bulugahagoda!
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One evening we went birdwatching in the paddyfields near the Bulugahagoda railway. Dusk was falling, and we’d been there wandering along the paths that cut across the fields for hours, peering into the shrubbery and closely watching the small irrigation channels where reeds and rushes grew on their banks in abundance.
Up in the sunset-tinted sky, birds were returning to their roosts. There were plenty of egrets and ibises flying in formation, along with a few Little Cormorants.
Crickets and cicadas were blending their usual refrain with the croaks and creaks of White-breasted Waterhens and Purple Coots, but suddenly they were interrupted by sweet, melodious whistling calls that rang through the air.
It was hard to locate the source of the sound - but eventually I did: a medium-sized brown bird with chestnut-flashing wings, flying around in a rough loop as it made its way to a small pool of water. A few more flew across to join it.
The size, the shape, the silhouette - there was no doubt about it. I’d just seen my very first wild duck, right at home in Bulugahagoda: a Lesser Whistling-teal.
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Lesser Whistling-teals (Dendrocygna javanica) are one of the commonest duck species in Sri Lanka, wherever there are vegetated shallow lakes and paddyfields, from the lowlands to the lower hills. I’ve seen them in Bulugahagoda, in all the big dry zone national parks and even in the wetlands of Colombo.
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| Lesser Whistling Teals in Thalangama Lake, Colombo |
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| A pair in Bundala National Park. Blink and you’ll miss the ducklings. |
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They’re not the only ducks in Sri Lanka, though. There are around 17 duck species that have been sighted within the country, along with two geese that are vagrants (Greylag Goose, Anser anser rubirostris; and Bar-headed Goose*, Anser indicus)
Only three species of duck are confirmed residents in Sri Lanka: the Lesser Whistling-duck, the Cotton Pygmy-goose, and the rare Spot-billed Duck. The Comb Duck (Sarkidiornis melanotos) was thought to be extinct in Sri Lanka, but returned in 2012 as a scarce migrant to the dry zone, its definitive status as yet unknown.* All the other ducks are either winter migrants or vagrants.
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With those notes on classification and status out of the way, we skip to the second common resident duck: the deceptively named Cotton Pygmy-goose (Nettapus coromandelianus). It’s the smallest duck in Sri Lanka - it bears no resemblance to a goose at all. It’s also, more appropriately, called the Cotton Teal.
I first spotted them in the Walpola Wæwa, along with some Little Grebes. There was a small flock of about five of these little ducks, and they were swimming about in the distance, probably feeding on lake vegetation.
Unlike Lesser Whistling-teals, these prefer lakes, reservoirs and open water to paddyfields, and are generally scarcer, mostly found in the dry zone but occasionally appearing in the wet zone as well.
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| Cotton Pygmy-goose in Thalangama Lake, Colombo |
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The next exciting series of sightings was in December 2015 in Mannar, in the far northwest of Sri Lanka. The Vankalai wetlands near the causeway linking Mannar Island to the mainland are some of the richest birding sites in the country during the northern winter.
As we drove along the route to Mannar Island, we were able to see hundreds of birds, of various species but mostly waders, gulls, terns and ducks gathering on the mudflats and marshes. Identifying them wasn’t easy, but a pair of binoculars and two cameras saved the day.
There were quite a few Garganeys (Anas querquedula) closer to the road. These small but common migrant ducks were either females, or males in their winter plumage - mottled brown with a characteristic face pattern. (I was able to spot them later on in Kumana National Park in 2017, where I could snap a good photo myself.)
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| Garganeys in Kumana National Park, Sri Lanka |
Among the vast congregation of waterbirds in Vankalai were some ducks that were so far away that they had to be identified on a camera. These were the Northern Shoveler, the Northern Pintail and the Eurasian Wigeon.
The Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) is distinctive, whether in breeding plumage or not, due to its large, flat bill. This was exactly how I identified the duck as it fed in the shallows, “shovelling” water and mud with its bill.
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| Northern Shoveler, Vankalai, Mannar |
The Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) was luckily a male in breeding plumage, with a distinctive dark brown head with a white stripe down its neck. The ducks that surrounded it, unfortunately, weren’t identified until the photographs were saved in the computer and zoomed into - they were a fairly numerous flock of Eurasian Wigeons (Anas penelope), some of which were readily identifiable males in breeding plumage with maroon-red heads.
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| Male Northern Pintail in lower right, with several Eurasian Wigeons nearby. Male Wigeon in lower left. |
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The next memorable sighting was also from the north: this time in Jaffna, December 2015. Lakes, salterns and lagoons dot the dry peninsula, providing a good habitat for aquatic birds, including ducks.
Staying on watch for Spot-billed Ducks (Anas poecilorhyncha) proved to be worth it, as we glimpsed a few while driving past.
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| Spot-billed Duck, Jaffna |
Spot-billed Ducks were initially thought to be rare migrants, until a breeding population was recently discovered in Jaffna.* They are also found to be resident in Mannar., and are currently critically endangered in Sri Lanka.
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That’s all the ducks I’ve seen so far in Sri Lanka. Hopefully, as we go on future wildlife trips, I’ll be lucky enough to see more species, snap more photographs and perhaps even get a glimpse of a very rare vagrant species. Maybe a Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), like in the book?
Here’s the list of all duck and goose species seen in Sri Lanka*:
- Fulvous Whistling-teal (Dendrocygna bicolor) - vagrant
- Lesser Whistling-teal (Dendrocygna javanica) - resident
- Greylag Goose (Anser anser rubirostris) - vagrant
- Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus) - vagrant
- Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea)
- Comb Duck (Sarkidiornis melanotos) - unknown status (very scarce migrant?)
- Cotton Pygmy-goose (Nettapus coromandelianus) - uncommon resident
- Gadwall (Anas strepera) - vagrant
- Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope) - migrant
- Spot-billed Duck (Anas poecilorhyncha) - very scarce resident, scarce migrant
- Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) - unconfirmed vagrant
- Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) - scarce migrant
- Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) - migrant
- Garganey (Anas querquedula) - migrant
- Common Teal (Anas crecca) - scarce migrant
- Marbled Teal (Marmaronetta angustirostris) - unconfirmed vagrant
- Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) - unconfirmed vagrant
- Common Pochard (Aythya ferina) - unconfirmed vagrant
- Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca) - vagrant
- Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) - vagrant
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Here are a few links to some of the references I’ve marked above.
Bar-headed Goose sightings were recorded in 2016 and 2017
Return of the Comb Duck
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258286594_Return_of_the_comb_duck_Sarkidiornis_melanotus_to_Sri_Lanka
Breeding population of Spot-billed Ducks
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321312088_Diversity_and_Conservation_of_Waterbirds_in_the_Northern_Avifaunal_Region_of_Sri_Lanka
Collection of records of vagrant ducks
https://biodiversityofsrilanka.blogspot.com/2014/04/
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