blp shabash 430x45
Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

  • You are here:  
  • Home
  • Show Image

Musk Duck

Musk Duck (Image ID 45667)
Photographed byMichael Hamel-Green on Wed 7th Apr, 2021 and uploaded on Sat 10th Apr, 2021 .
Resolution1800x1179
Viewed324
ID45667
CommentAfter being shown my first Musk Duck by a more experienced birdwatcher friend, I was pleased to discover some for myself, in this case two females. I watched as they lived up to their reputation for lengthy underwater submarining. They dived down and then, after what seemed like an eternity, finally reappeared, cormorant style, in an entirely different spot. Females lack the males’ under-bill black flaps, and are somewhat smaller, but otherwise are similar, with black bill and dark white-threaded plumage. John Gould, writing in the mid 1880s, remarked upon the Musk Duck’s “singular” appearance, and noted that it depended “for its food and for its preservation from danger upon its powers of diving rather than upon those of flying”. He added: “Although I have many times come suddenly upon this bird I could never force it to take wing, even when I surprised it at one of those small water-holes…instead of attempting to escape by flight it would immediately dive and remain submerged for a great length of time” (Birds of Australia, v.7).
EquipmentNikon Z7ii, Nikon 300mm PF f420, Nikon TC1.4 420mm ISO 1000 1/2000th f8
LocationWerribee Treatment Plant, Werribee, Victoria
Keywordsfemale, adult
You already have an outstanding request to download this image for non-commercial purposes. You may cancel this request by clicking on the button below and waiting for confirmation that your request has been noted. When you have selected all the images that you require, go to 'My Download Requests' (under Photo Gallery) and submit your request by clicking 'Edit/Submit' and filling out the details. You will be advised of the result by email. Note that cookies MUST be enabled for this to work.
You may request download of this image for non-commercial purposes. A request that meets the usage rights of this image will be automatically approved; a request that does not meet the usage rights will be refused, but may (at the Download Manager's discretion) be referred to the photographer. The usage rights of this image are: Any non-commercial use by any requestor, including personal use. For further details of image usage rights, see here. Request the image by clicking on the button below and waiting for confirmation that your request has been noted. When you have selected all the images that you require, go to 'My Download Requests' (under Photo Gallery) and submit your request by clicking 'Edit/Submit' and filling out the details. You will be advised of the result by email. Note that cookies MUST be enabled for this to work.
Previous21024/31658 in Main LibraryNext
Previous177/999 by Michael Hamel-GreenNext
Previous63/88 of Musk DuckNext
Previous1173/1776 of Ducks, Geese and SwansNext
Previous21743/34530 OverallNext
Use the arrows at the left and Right hand side of this page to display the Next/Previous photographs in that group, or click on one of the blue links above to start a slide show in that group (group slide shows are only allowed if there are less than 1000 images in the group).

CONTACT US

The easiest way to contact us is by emailing us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Our People page, in the About Us section, contains email links to each of the committee members.