Cairina scutulata

HABITAT:
Prefer slow-flowing streams, pools and marshes and dense swampy rain forests.

DISTRIBUTION:
Thailand and Indonesia (Scattered in small sub-populations) The IUCN qualifies this forest duck as Critically Endangered because it has a very small, rapidly declining, severely fragmented population as a result of deforestation, wetland drainage and exploitation. Researchers in 1992 located only 217 of these ducks, but a 1995 estimate put the minimum birds at 400-450, probably not exceeding 2,500.

SIZE AND APPEARANCE:
Large, blackish body, white wing patches, white head and neck, which is densely spotted in black.

Many of the Indonesian birds are almost completely white except for tail and flight feathers.

DIET:
Feeding mostly at night in shallow water, the diverse diet of the White-winged Wood Duck includes seeds, grains, aquatic plants, as well as insects, larva, worms, mollusks, frogs, small fish and crustaceans.

MISC:
The prolonged, penetrating, wailing, trumpeting honks project a ghostly quality, earning the them the Assamase name of the Spirit Duck.

PROJECT NOTES:
While presently highly endangered, White-winged Wood Ducks (sometimes called White-winged Ducks) were reasonably numerous at the turn of the century. Continued deforestation has caused a high degree of fragmentation of its primary habitat, dividing the population into a relative few virgin rain forest swamps. Many of these sub-populations are under imminent threat of extermination, whereas others may be too small to remain viable in the long term.

Biologist Nancy Drilling, who interned at Sylvan Heights, conducted a population study of the White-winged Wood Duck in Sumatra. Her studies, using radio telemetry collars, indicate that only 300 to 1,000 birds exist in the wild. These ducks are difficult to locate in the dense rain forest. Each pair requires up to 250 acres of territory.  They forage primarily at night and spend most of the day perched in the canopy of tall trees. They avoid direct sunlight and are nearly always found in the shade. Consequently, despite their large size, the shy, timid ducks are often overlooked.

Fortunately, White-winged Wood Ducks are established in managed preserves, due largely to the efforts at Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Center. The population residing at the Center declined in past years due to an outbreak of avian tuberculosis. Akron Zoo's Chief Veterinarian, Dr.Gary Riggs and a team of technicians visit Sylvan Heights twice a year to conduct medical tests on the birds. Recent test results indicate that all of the White-winged Wood Ducks at Sylvan Heights' are free of disease and the flock is growing again.

A flock of White-winged Wood Ducks (about 1/5 of the world's population) resides at the Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park. This is one of the few places where the public can view this critically endangered bird.

MIKE’S COMMENTS:
White-winged Wood Ducks are one the most endangered of all waterfowl. Sylvan Heights owns all of the specimens in the United States, including those on loan to zoos and private collections. White-winged Wood Ducks have their own Species Survival Plan (SSP) administered by the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Sylvan Heights adheres to the plan and only loans the birds with the AZA’s approval. We currently maintain over 60 of these endangered birds at Sylvan Heights.

Sylvan Heights receives an annual $500 donation from the International Wild Waterfowl Association to help buy the food. But more money is needed towards the support of the species so we can eventually send birds back into the wild where they have almost vanished.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

See video of Mike Lubbock discussing the White-winged Duck Project. Hosted by Field Trip Earth.

Read related "Field Trip Earth" report on "Preserving the White-Winged Duck", which documents the breeding program at Sylvan Heights and the field research of Nancy Drilling in Sumatra.

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