rita

I have recently spotted a pair of black-bellied whistling ducks on my pond in a town outside of Dallas. I think these are rare to this area and I am pleased they are visiting, but I also wonder why they have ventured this far north.

jeff parker

I spotted a roseatte spoonbill just off Hwy 21 between San Marcos and Bastrop today. I had never seen one more than a few miles from the coast. Weird.

Shannon

Rita,

The black-bellied whistling duck (once called the black-bellied tree duck due it its habit of perching on trees/telephone poles) is apparently expanding its range. There are now nesting numbers in both the Upper Texas Coast and the Dallas area. I searched google.com for some additional info, and found this county map of the Dallas area where black-bellieds have been successfully nesting. I also ran across information from Arkansas' Ouachita National Forest indicating there has been some successful natural nesting there, as well. This nationwide map, in fact, indicates anywhere in Texas you may have a chance to see these elegant creatures.

Here in San Antonio's northwest side, we see and hear black-bellieds occasionally in the early morning or at dusk -- especially near water, or areas the ducks pass over en route to water.

Thanks for sharing your find! If you want to see black-bellieds up close, a great place to do it is the San Antonio Zoo. Apparently, word is out among the black-bellied (and other wild bird) populations that the Zoo is a cool place to be if you're a wild critter looking for attention, free food and some R&R. In addition to the superb exhibits out there, any given tree in the Zoo usually has some wild egrets, great blue herons, black-crowned night herons or black-bellied whistling ducks roosting in it, as well.

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jajan

I just saw your post and reply and was so glad to see that someone else has seen these ducks here. we are 100 miles northeast of dallas and we saw a pair of these ducks on one of our ponds. they sure were distinct!

Erma Hutchins

I have had Black Bellied Whistling visiting my home for seven or eight years. I have African Geese and they would just stop off for a while with them the first two years, now every year before Easter they come back and feed almost every day with the chickens and geese. At first we had two, the next year four, then the next year five, and this year we have seven that come almost every day once or twice. We love watching them.