Hello Birders,

Regarding the whistling-duck at Bluffton:  Of course there are other
factors to consider as well, but I don't think that the bird's
tameness is any strike against considering it a wild bird.  In places
where unquestionably wild Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks are common,
such as Texas and Arizona, they seem to be among the waterfowl that
adapt most quickly to the presence of humans.  On the central Texas
coast, it's not unusual to see flocks of BBWDs come flying in to
backyard ponds, or waddling up onto lawns, waiting to be fed.  They
seem to "tame up" even more rapidly than park-pond Mallards in places
where they're not molested.

Interestingly, in some areas of the tropics where they are actively
hunted, these whistling-ducks are extremely wary and hard to approach.
 In one heavily settled area of the llanos in Venezuela, I seldom saw
whistling-ducks at all in daylight, when they seemed to be in hiding;
I only heard them calling as they flew over at night!   So this
species seems to be able to adapt to different levels of disturbance,
and its behavior may be only as wary as necessary.  I don't see
anything suspicious in the fact that the Bluffton bird became as
approachable as its Mallard companions.

Kenn Kaufman
Oak Harbor, OH

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