White-winged duck, or white-winged wood duck

White-winged duck, or White-winged wood duck(Cairina scutulata)

Phylum —chordata
Class — aves
Order — anseriformes
Family — anatidae

Genus –cairina

Appearance

Length is 66–81 cm (26–32 in) and wingspan is 116–153 cm (46–60 in). Males weigh 2.94–3.9 kg (6.5–8.6 lb), while females weigh 1.95–3.05 kg (4.3–6.7 lb).

The most noticeable feature on adult birds, is the dark body contrasting with a whitish head and neck. Males have mostly dull yellowish bill, blackish mottling on the head and upper neck, white lesser median coverts and inner edges of tertials and bluish-grey secondaries. In flight, white wing-coverts contrast with the rest of the wings. Females are smaller and usually have more densely mottled head and upper neck. The juvenile is duller and browner.

Habitat

The white-winged duck found in India only in the northeast, with the main populations in eastern Assam the nearby areas of Arunachal Pradesh.

Behavior

White-winged ducks cannot easily be seen in the wild, as they spend their time hidden in trees. They are usually found in pairs or groups of four to six, sometimes more than ten. They love shade and most of the day will find them in secluded jungle pools, sometimes perching on trees during the day. Being crepuscular, they are most active during dusk and dawn. At night their loud calls echo throughout the forest, from a distance, sounding like a ghost.

These birds molt annual in September or October, being flightless for a fortnight, when they move into more densely forested swampy areas for protection from predators.

Diet

White-winged ducks are omnivores, they eat aquatic plants, seed, grain, rice, aquatic insects, snails, crustaceans, mollusks, snakes, frogs and fishes.

Reproduction

White-winged ducks are monogamous breeders. This means that both sexes have only one partner. Breeding generally seems to depend on the seasonal rainfall, with laying late in the dry season and hatching early in the wet season, which begins in May in the north of their range. In India, February or March is the start of breeding activity and it runs to the end of July.

Up to 16 eggs are laid in a nest built in a tree hole, hollow or fork 3 to 12 meters from the ground. Incubation is for 33 days, hatching being timed with the beginning of the heavy seasonal rains. After 14 weeks of being cared for by their parents, the chicks disperse.

In captivity

The maximum lifespan is 9 years.

In areas with a warm climate and in summer ducks can be kept permanently on paddocks. In the cold season, they are placed in a poultry house, the optimal height of which is at least 1.8 m. Windows in the room are located at a height of 1 m. Their total area should be 0.1 of the floor area. Artificial lighting is made at the rate of 5 Watt per 1 m². The lower part of the walls is sheathed with plank and whitewashed. The floor in a duck house can be wooden, adobe or concrete with deep bedding. It is possible to keep ducks on the mesh floor: mesh flooring is installed at a height of 25-30 cm from the floor, the thickness of the rods should be at least 2-3 mm. A good option would be a combined type of floor, with 2/3 of the surface equipped with a mesh coating and 1/3 covered with deep bedding. The manhole is placed at the level of 5-8 cm from the floor covering, its dimensions are 40x40 cm.

The room temperature should not fall below 0 degrees. During the oviposition period, the most favorable temperature is 18-20 degrees. It is mandatory to have good ventilation in the duckling house, since the bird does not tolerate dampness very well.

For recreation ducks set roosts at a height of 15-20 cm and with a distance from the wall of 35 cm, which are a kind of bench width - 15-20 cm.

The number of feeders is calculated in such a way that simultaneous access to the feed of the entire livestock is provided. The feeding front for ducks is 5 cm per head. The optimal size of the feeder is: width - 23-25 cm, height - 10 cm. It is better to use trough-shaped drinkers - 20-25x100 cm. It is not recommended to put wider drinkers in winter, because ducks can use them for bathing, and this is fraught with hypothermia of the bird and increased humidity in the duckling house.

Nests for laying hens are placed in a dark place along the wall. They are made of wood or plywood 40x50x50 cm in size, with a threshold of 8-10 cm. The bottom is covered with straw or wood shavings. Sawdust is not used as a bedding material for these ducks. There should be one nest for 2-3 birds. Do not allow crowded poultry keeping. The optimal density of adult ducks is 2.5-3.0 heads/m.

In summer, the basis of the diet of ducks is green plants on pastures. During the period when there are no plants, and in winter, the bird is fed both wet mixes and dry grain feed. Feed is set 3 times a day. Ducks eat good chopped grass, beet tops, kitchen waste. From grain crops, corn, oats, wheat, millet, barley will be good food; from vegetables — boiled potatoes, rutabaga, turnips, beets. Grain can be given both in dry form and pre-soaked. One adult bird per day consumes 350 g of this feed. If there is good grass grazing, consumption is reduced by 50%. In winter and early spring, the diet must include vitamin and mineral supplements. Mineral feed should also be freely available — table salt, chalk, shell, eggshells. They are poured into a separate feeder. The need for drinking water for ducks is 1 liter per day for one adult. One should constantly have water in drinkers,owners should change it as it gets dirty.

These ducks are released for walking after 15 o'clock in the afternoon, as they lay eggs before this time. The paddock yard should be surrounded with a fence at least 2 m high. For swimming, it is enough to install containers with a volume of at least 15 liters on the territory or create small artificial grooves with water. In large open reservoirs, white-winged duckneed less than other domestic waterfowl.

It happens that ducks eat litter, chips, pluck feathers, peck eggs and even parts of the body. This is due to inadequate feeding (lack of sulfur and b vitamins), as well as crowded poultry and insufficient walking. What to do? Add the missing elements in the feed, and give the bird the opportunity to walk more. If the bird bites itself, smear the injured areas with iodine.