Subspecies in India
Alternative name combination: Anas javanica Horsfield, 1821.
Synonyms: NA.
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
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Eggs: 7–17 eggs, ivory-white, size 45·6–49·6 mm × 38·1–39·7 mm.
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Adults: A small pale brown and maroon-chestnut colored duck. Uniformly chestnut upper tail-coverts, yellow eye-ring.
Young/Immatures: Paler overall, dull chestnut-brown to lower parts, feathers of mantle dingy fulvous margins
Similar Species in India: It is much similar to Fulvous Whistling Duck but has no white on lateral body and neck, absence of rusty-whitish collar and smaller in size.
Widespread throughout India. Generally found on small and shallow waterbodies, marshes, lakes, mangroves and coastal lagoons with abundant marshy vegetation and surrounded by trees, used for roosting. It occurs in small parties of 10 to 15, occasionally in large flocks.
This species is a good diver and also walks well on marshy land, grazing rather like a goose.
Foraging Behaviour: Majorly feeds on aquatic weeds and tender shoots and grain of wild and cultivated seeds etc. Also, small fish, frogs, snails, worms.
Call/Song: A shrill wheezy whistling seasick, seasick constantly in flight; Call very similar to Fulvous Whistling Duck.
Migration Status: Resident.
IUCN Status: Least Concern.
| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Assam | |||||||||||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | |||||||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | |||||||||||||
| Goa | |||||||||||||
| Gujarat | |||||||||||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir | |||||||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Kerala | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Maharashtra | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 5 | |||||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | |||||||||||||
| Nagaland | |||||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Paschimbanga | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | |||||||
| Pondicherry | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | 1 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Sikkim | |||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | |||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | |||||||||||||
| West Bengal | |||||||||||||
| Total | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
3. Stuart Baker, E. C. 1933. The Nidification of Birds of the Indian Empire. Taylor And Francis.
4. BirdLife International. 2016. Dendrocygna bicolor. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22679746A92827620.
Page citation
Anonymous 2024. Dendrocygna javanica (Horsfield, 1821) – Lesser Whistling Duck. In Satose, V., A. Bayani, V. Ramachandran, P. Roy, and K. Kunte (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 2.17. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.birdsofindia.org/dendrocygna-javanica, accessed 2024/10/12.