West Indian Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna arborea)

The West Indian whistling duck (Dendrocygna arborea) is a whistling duck that breeds in the Caribbean. Alternative names are black-billed whistling duck and Cuban whistling duck.
As its common name suggests, one of this duck's characteristic features is its distinctive whistling call. Though mainly nocturnal, whistling ducks are also active at dusk and dawn. During the day, they roost in flocks, often in mangrove swamps.
The West Indian whistling duck is widely scattered throughout the West Indies, including a large breeding population in the Bahamas, and smaller numbers in Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, Hispaniola (both the Dominican Republic and Haiti), and Puerto Rico. It is largely sedentary, apart from local movements, which can be 100 km or more.
The West Indian whistling duck is the largest and darkest of the whistling ducks.
The West Indian whistling duck has suffered extensive hunting for its eggs and for sport. Wetlands are a very limited habitat in the Caribbean, with continuing conversion for development and agriculture. More than 50% of remaining wetlands are seriously degraded by the cutting of mangroves and swamp-forest.

Read less