Travel Challenge Answer April 2008
Thank you to everyone who took a shot at the April 2008 Travel Challenge, which was another in our series of “Count the Ducklings”.
Congratulations to Alison for the most specific guess—she even nailed the exact number of ducklings in the photograph!
This family of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks mystified us because we came across them at Cooper Lake State Park, southeast of Dallas, Texas in October. Here are some neat tidbits about them: both sexes look alike and they pair up for many years, with both mates sharing in the raising of the young (a behavior more consistent with geese and swans). Considered a “Neotropic” species that only enters the southern U.S., the ducks have been successfully expanding their range in recent years.
Note how there were actually 12 ducklings in all, as seen in the last photo of the whole family together. (Click photos for larger versions.)
Original
Revealed
The whole family
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