Pacific black duck: Difference between revisions

| nameimage = Pacific black duck (Anas superciliosa) male swimming Sydney.jpg

| authority = [[Johann Friedrich Gmelin|Gmelin, JF]], 1789

The '''Pacific black duck''' ('''''Anas superciliosa'''''), commonly known as the '''PBD''', is a [[dabbling duck]] found in much of [[Indonesia]], [[New Guinea]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the [[Caroline Islands]] in the north and [[French Polynesia]] in the east. It is usually called the '''graygrey duck''' in New Zealand, where it is also known by its Maori name, {{lang|mi|pārera}}.{{short description|Species of bird}}

The Pacific black duck was [[Species description|formally described]] in 1789 by the German naturalist [[Johann Friedrich Gmelin]] in his revised and expanded edition of [[Carl Linnaeus]]'s ''[[Systema Naturae]]''. He placed it with all the other ducks, geese and swans in the [[genus]] ''[[Anas]]'' and coined the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Anas superciliosa''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1789 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 2 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=537 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656030 }}</ref> Gmelin based his description on the "Supercilious duck" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist [[John Latham (ornithologist)|John Latham]] in his ''A General Synopsis of Birds''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Latham | first=John | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | year=1785 | title=A General Synopsis of Birds | volume=3, Part 2 | publisher=Printed for Leigh and Sotheby | location=London | page=497, No. 45 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40079318 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=472 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16109112 }}</ref> The naturalist [[Joseph Banks]] had provided Latham with a water-colour drawing of the duck by [[Georg Forster]] who had accompanied [[James Cook]] on his [[Second voyage of James Cook|second voyage to the Pacific Ocean]]. His picture was drawn at [[Dusky Sound]], a fiord on the southwest corner of New Zealand. This picture is the [[holotype]] for the species and is now held by the [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]] in London.<ref>{{ cite journal | last=Medway | first=David G. | date=1976 | title=Extant types of New Zealand birds from Cook's voyages. Part 1: Historical and type paintings | journal=Notornis | volume=23 | issue=1 | pages=45-60 [54, "Grey duck"] | url=https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Notornis_23_1.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{ cite journal | last=Lysaght | first=Averil | date=1959 | title=Some eighteenth century bird paintings in the library of Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) | journal=Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Historical Series | volume=1 | issue=6 | pages=251-371 [290, No. 77] | doi=10.5962/p.92313 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2238991 | doi-access=free }}</ref> The genus name ''Anas'' is the Latin word for a duck. The specific epithet ''superciliosa'' is from Latin meaning "supercilious" or "eye-browed", a reference to the prominent [[supercilium]] or eye-stripe.<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n46/mode/1up 46], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n374/mode/1up 374]}}</ref>

The nest is usually placed in a hole in a tree, but sometimes an old nest of a corvid is used and occasionally the nest will be placed on the ground. The clutch of 8–10 pale cream eggs is incubated only by the female. The eggs hatch after 26–32 days. The [[precocial]] downy ducklings leave the nest site when dry and are cared for by the female. They can fly when around 58 days of age.<ref name=hanzab>{{cite book | editor1-last=Marchant | editor1-first=S. | editor2-last=Higgins | editor2-first=P.G. | year=1990 | chapter=''Anas superciliosa'' Pacific Black Duck | title=Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds. Volume 1: Ratites to ducks; Part B, Australian pelican to ducks | location=Melbourne, Victoria | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=978-0-19-553068-1 | pages=1320-13321320–1332 | chapter-url=https://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/sites/all/files/030_Grey%20Duck.pdf }}</ref>

The Pacific black duck has declined sharply in numbers in New Zealand and several Australian islands due to competition from and hybridisation with the introduced mallard.<ref name="Gillespie" /> Rhymer ''et al.'' (1994) say their data "points to the eventual loss of identity of the grey duck as a separate species in New Zealand, and the subsequent dominance of a hybrid swarm akin to the Mariana Mallard." Studies of their three species of parasitic feather lice support this prediction.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The ectoparasites of hybrid ducks in New Zealand (Mallard x Grey Duck)|last=Bulgarella|first=M|date=2018|journal=International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife|volume=7|issue=3|pages=335–342|doi=10.1016/j.ijppaw.2018.09.005|pmc=6154467|pmid=30258780|bibcode=2018IJPPW...7..335B }}</ref> This same impact is occurring in many areas of Australia, Tasmania and Adelaide in particular.