Paradise Shelduck Identification Guide

Key Field Marks

• Size & shape: A big, goose-like duck around 63 cm long, with a fairly upright stance and strong direct flight typical of shelducks.
• Male: Black head and neck, dark gray to blackish body finely barred with black, and a chestnut-tinged back; overall looks dark at a distance.
• Female: Strikingly different — pure white head contrasting with a rich chestnut-orange body, making pairs easy to sex even at range.
• In flight: Both sexes show large white wing patches (upperwing coverts) contrasting with black flight feathers and a green speculum.
• Behavior: Usually seen in pairs, which mate for life, or in larger post-breeding flocks; grazes on pasture grasses as readily as it feeds in water, often far from wetlands.

Separating It from Similar Species

• Australian Shelduck: Similar shape and some chestnut coloring, but males lack the black head/chestnut back combination and females lack the pure white head of a female Paradise Shelduck; ranges are largely separate (Australian Shelduck is mainly in Australia).
• No other New Zealand waterfowl shows the combination of a white-headed female paired with a black-headed male, making the species essentially unmistakable within its range.

Where & When to See It

• Range: Endemic to New Zealand, found throughout both the North and South Islands.
• Habitat: Farmland pastures, rivers, lakes, and wetlands; highly adaptable and now common in agricultural landscapes, sometimes considered a pest of pasture due to grazing flocks.
• Season: Resident year-round; forms large flocks outside the breeding season, sometimes numbering in the hundreds at favored molting or feeding sites.

Voice

Sexes have different calls — the male gives a hoarse, wheezy honk, while the female's call is a loud, clear, repeated "zonk-zonk" or "zink-zink," often given in flight.