Pāteke_Brown Teal_Anas chlorotis
A species of dabbling duck of the genus Anas.
The Brown Teal is rather nocturnal in habit by dabbling duck standards. This seems to be an evolutionary response to the fact that most predators on New Zealand, before humans arrived and brought with them carnivorous mammals, were diurnal birds such as Haast's Eagle or skuas.
It feeds by dabbling and upending, like its relatives. Its diet consists mainly of aquatic invertebrates like insects and their larvae, or crustaceans. It appears quite fond of mollusks. Small species such as pipi (Paphies australis) and large wedge shell (Macomona liliana) are eaten whole and crushed in the gizzard. For feeding on larger cockles such as Austrovenus stutchburyi (New Zealand cockle), at least some New Zealand Teals have developed a peculiar technique, as of now undocumented in other birds, to force their rather soft bills between the cockle shells and tear out the flesh with a jackhammer-like pumping motion. At night Brown Teal will forage on land some distance from the streams used as a refuge during the day. Very endangered, with only a few thousand remaining in the wild. Thios bird was photographed in the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary.
Pāteke_Brown Teal_Anas chlorotis
A species of dabbling duck of the genus Anas.
The Brown Teal is rather nocturnal in habit by dabbling duck standards. This seems to be an evolutionary response to the fact that most predators on New Zealand, before humans arrived and brought with them carnivorous mammals, were diurnal birds such as Haast's Eagle or skuas.
It feeds by dabbling and upending, like its relatives. Its diet consists mainly of aquatic invertebrates like insects and their larvae, or crustaceans. It appears quite fond of mollusks. Small species such as pipi (Paphies australis) and large wedge shell (Macomona liliana) are eaten whole and crushed in the gizzard. For feeding on larger cockles such as Austrovenus stutchburyi (New Zealand cockle), at least some New Zealand Teals have developed a peculiar technique, as of now undocumented in other birds, to force their rather soft bills between the cockle shells and tear out the flesh with a jackhammer-like pumping motion. At night Brown Teal will forage on land some distance from the streams used as a refuge during the day. Very endangered, with only a few thousand remaining in the wild. Thios bird was photographed in the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary.