Ducks, Geese and Swans
Order: Anseriformes. Family: Anatidae
The family Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swans. These are birds that are modified for an aquatic existence with webbed feet, flattened bills and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to an oily coating. There are 131 species worldwide and 14 species which occur in Benin.
- Fulvous Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna bicolor
- White-faced Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna viduata
- White-backed Duck Thalassornis leuconotus
- Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiacus
- Spur-winged Goose Plectropterus gambensis
- Comb Duck Sarkidiornis melanotos
- Hartlaub's Duck Pteronetta hartlaubii
- African Pygmy-goose Nettapus auritus
- Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope
- Eurasian Teal Anas crecca
- Northern Pintail Anas acuta
- Garganey Anas querquedula
- Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata
- Ferruginous Pochard Aythya nyroca
Read more about this topic: List Of Birds Of Benin
Famous quotes containing the words geese and/or swans:
“the clanging chains
of geese are harnessed to the moon:”
—Roy Campbell (1902–1957)
“Holland is a dream, Monsieur, a dream of gold and smoke—smokier by day, more gilded by night. And night and day that dream is peopled with Lohengrins like these, dreamily riding their black bicycles with high handle-bars, funereal swans constantly drifting throughout the whole country, around the seas, along the canals.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)