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The blue-billed duck (Oxyura australis) is a small Australian stiff-tailed duck, with both the male and female growing to a length of 40 cm (16 in). [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The male has a slate-blue bill which changes to bright-blue during the breeding season, hence the duck's common name.
Like most ducks, it is sexually dimorphic. [16] The male has a chestnut-coloured head and neck, a black breast and tail, and a pale grey body, marked with fine vermiculations. His bill is dark grey, with a wide blue-grey band across the middle. His iris is yellow-orange to red, growing brighter in the breeding season. [15]
The upperparts are glossy blue-black upperparts, with bluish and greenish iridescence especially prominent on the secondaries (lower arm feathers). The male is much larger than the female, and has a large black knob on the bill. Young birds are dull buff below and on the face and neck, with dull brown upperparts, top of the head and eyestripe.
It has a light blue bill with a small black nail on the tip, yellow eyes, and is 20% heavier and 10% longer than the closely related lesser scaup. [16] The male has a dark head with a green to purple sheen, a black breast, a light back, a black tail, and a white underside. The drake or male is larger and has a more rounded head than the female.
At rest the long neck and the bill with the yellow tip are distinctive. It measures 55–63 cm (22–25 in) in length and 83–95 cm (33–37 in) across the wings, with a body mass of 790–1,500 g (1.74–3.31 lb). [12] [13] These are mainly grey ducks with a paler head and neck and a black bill tipped bright yellow. The wings are whitish with ...
The adult mottled duck is 44 to 61 cm (17–24 in) long from head to tail. It has a dark body, lighter head and neck, orange legs and dark eyes. Both sexes have a shiny green-blue speculum (wing patch), which is not bordered with white as with the mallard. Males and females are similar, but the male's bill is bright yellow, whereas the female's ...
The adult male is all black except for white flanks and a blue-grey bill with gold-yellow eyes, along with a thin crest on the back of its head. It has an obvious head tuft that gives the species its name. The adult female is brown with paler flanks, and is more easily confused with other diving ducks.
The white-headed duck (Oxyura leucocephala) is a small diving duck some 45 cm (18 in) long. The male has a white head with black crown, a blue bill, and reddish-grey plumage. The female has a dark bill and rather duller colouring. Its breeding habitat is lakes with open water and dense vegetation at the margin.