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 15 species which occur in Swaziland.
- 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
- African Pygmy-goose Nettapus auritus
- African Black Duck Anas sparsa
- Cape Teal Anas capensis (A)
- Yellow-billed Duck Anas undulata
- Red-billed Duck Anas erythrorhyncha
- Hottentot Teal Anas hottentota (A)
- Cape Shoveler Anas smithii (A)
- Southern Pochard Netta erythrophthalma
- Maccoa Duck Oxyura maccoa (A)
Read more about this topic: List Of Birds Of Swaziland
Famous quotes containing the words geese and/or swans:
“Let the long contention cease! Geese are swans, and swans are geese. Let them have it how they will! Thou art tired; best be still.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
“I know of the sleepy country, where swans fly round
Coupled with golden chains, and sing as they fly.
A king and a queen are wandering there, and the sound
Has made them so happy and hopeless, so deaf and so blind
With wisdom, they wander till all the years have gone by....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)