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 20 species which occur in Saudi Arabia.
- Mute Swan Cygnus olor (A)
- Tundra Swan Cygnus columbianus
- Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons
- Greylag Goose Anser anser
- Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea
- Common Shelduck Tadorna tadorna
- Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope
- Gadwall Anas strepera
- Eurasian Teal Anas crecca
- Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
- Northern Pintail Anas acuta
- Garganey Anas querquedula
- Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata
- Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris
- Red-crested Pochard Netta rufina
- Common Pochard Aythya ferina
- Ferruginous Pochard Aythya nyroca
- Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula
- Smew Mergellus albellus
- White-headed Duck Oxyura leucocephala
Read more about this topic: List Of Birds Of Saudi Arabia
Famous quotes containing the words geese and/or swans:
“They yelleden as fiendes doon in hell;
The duckes cryden as men would them quell;
The geese for feare flewen over the trees;
Out of the hive came the swarm of bees.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“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)