Masked duck

Masked duck
	Adult males,Tobago
Conservation status
	; Least Concern(IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Anseriformes
Family:	Anatidae
Genus:	Nomonyx; Ridgway,1880
Species:	N. dominicus
Binomial name
	Nomonyx dominicus; (Linnaeus,1766)
Synonyms
	Anas dominicaLinnaeus, 1766; Oxyura dominica(Linnaeus, 1766);

Songs and calls

Listen to Masked Duck on xeno-canto

Themasked duck(Nomonyx dominicus) is a tinystiff-tailed duckranging through thetropical Americas.

Taxonomy

The only member of thegenusNomonyx,it is intermediate between the rather primitiveblack-headed duck(Heteronetta) and the veryapomorphictrue stiff-tailed ducks. It is sometimes included with the latter in the genusOxyura,but the masked ducks are now considered the descendants of amissing linkin theOxyurinievolution, having changed little for millions of years.^[2]^[3]

Distribution and habitat

They are found from southernTexasandMexicotoSouth Americaand also in theCaribbean.Primarily notmigratory,masked ducks are reported as very uncommon vagrants in the southernmostUnited States,along the Mexican border and inFlorida.As of 2000, the conservation status for masked ducks in Texas is 3,800 birds.^[4]On April 1, 1962, it was recorded fromLowndes County, Georgia,where it was photographed byAlexander Wetmore.^[5]Masked ducks breed in any freshwater body withmarshvegetation and surrounded by heavy tree cover. They also occur inmangrove swamps.

Male
Female

Description

Breedingadult males have a rust-colored body with a black face and mottled wings. Adult females, winter males, andjuvenileshave a barred brownish gray body, with two horizontal, dark-colored stripes running through the buff-colored face.

Diet

These ducks mainly feed onseeds,roots, stems,^[6]and leaves of aquaticplants.They also eat aquaticinsectsandcrustaceans.They feed by diving. These ducks are usually very secretive, but they are not rare and not considered threatened by theIUCN.^[1]