Cool Ducks

R

Rob Robertson

Active member
I have Seven of these using my Dove feeding area in My backyard. I think my Milo bill is going up. Cool looking Ducks.
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Thats pretty cool!
They showed up here 2 or 3 summers ago. Had one harvested by a hunter up in the Mobile Delta this last season.
They are spreading, expanding their wintering & breeding range.
 
You can find them all over down here in Texas...Spent the weekend at Anehauc Wildlife Refuge south east of Houston...They are like mosquitos...Pretty birds!

It is neat seeing that they are expanding their range.

Regards,
Kristan
 
Black bellied whistling ducks. These guys are growing in population by leaps and bounds, some have been seen as far north as South Dakota. We have lots of them here in south Florida. We do a hunt over harvested rice fields a couple of times each year. Since they dont migrate as much as most ducks, you can definitely shoot them out of an area. Next to Canvasbacks they are my favorite duck on the dinner table. We take the legs as well as the breasts, about a half to two thirds of the legs are awesome breaded and fried. I am thinking these are the younger birds as some are tougher and not as tastey as the rest. They are primarily grain feeders as you can well imagine. Thats why they taste so good! Rich
 
I sure don't blame you at all for feeding those beauties, Rob. I was going to ask you to send a few to your southwest but then knowing now that they eat grain, it wouldn't do any good because none is grown in this area. Maybe I could get them to like eating green and red chile.
Al
 
Wish some cool stuff like that would turn up in Ohio, best thing I got close to that was an eider I shot a couple years ago.
 
Black-bellied WD are most certainly expanding their range. Memphis area had over 50 breeding pairs last year, everyone along the Mississippi River and its tribs stand a reasonable chance of seeing them in the coming years. I know they wonder around a lot in spring, perhaps looking for new breeding areas (they see them up the East Coast in small flocks). I know there have been single individuals to small flocks scattered throughout the Midwest in fall, so likely the young birds may do kind of a northward dispersal in fall (and they can show up at random bodies of water). So keep your eyes out during season, they may turn up in your area.

For those of you who hunt them, do they decoy to "traditional" duck decoys or do you have to almost strictly target whistlers (Fulvous and BB)?
 
I'm up to 18 Blackbellies using my dove feeding area. The lake below my house has three broods. 2, 4 and this not so great photo of 7. I'm up to about 10 pounds of corn and milo per week.

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