| Whistling Ducks | ||||||||||
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White-faced Whistling Duck | ||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||
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| † For other ducks, see also: Anatidae |
Most of its members are the 8 species of whistling ducks in the genus Dendrocygna which has a worldwide distribution through the tropics and subtropics. These ducks have, as their name implies, distinctive whistling calls.
The whistling ducks have long legs and necks, and are very gregarious, flying to and from night-time roosts in large flocks. Both sexes have the same plumage, and all have a hunched appearance and black underwings in flight.
The exception in this sub-family is the White-backed Duck Thalassornis leuconotus of Africa, which is difficult to classify and has often been placed in the Oxyurinae, which it resembles in morphology and feeding habits. However, it appears that the similarity is largely a matter of convergence. It may rate its own sub-family, Thalassorninae.
The species are: