Also known as: Whistler, Mangrove Duck, Night Duck; Yaguasa (Cuba), Yaguaza (DR), Chiriría (PR).
A Caribbean wetland flagship
The West Indian Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna arborea) is endemic to the West Indies, found nowhere else in the world. It is the largest of the eight whistling-duck species and is classified as globally threatened, with a total population probably between 10,000 and 20,000 birds. It is rare or endangered on many islands across its range.
Small populations occur through the Greater Antilles — the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Turks and Caicos — with Antigua and Barbuda at the southern edge of the range. The largest population is in Cuba, where rice cultivation provides abundant feeding habitat.
Identification
A large, graceful, mostly-brown duck with black-and-white markings on the flanks and abdomen, a long neck and long legs, a black bill and big feet. It appears goose-like, stands upright, and walks with notable grace. Males and females look alike and form long-lasting pair bonds.
The species is highly vocal, giving haunting whistling calls — the “chiriría” that gives it some of its local names — most often heard at dusk as birds fly in small flocks. True to its scientific name (arborea = tree), it readily perches in trees.
Habitat and behaviour
It favours wetlands — mangroves, freshwater swamps, lagoons and, increasingly, rice fields — and is largely nocturnal, feeding at night and roosting by day. It nests in tree cavities, on the ground among vegetation, and sometimes in palms.
Threats and conservation
The West Indian Whistling-Duck is listed as Vulnerable. Wetland drainage and development, hunting, and predation by introduced mammals such as mongooses and rats are the principal threats. Because the species is dispersed across many islands in small numbers, it has become a focus of region-wide wetland education and conservation work, serving as a flagship for the protection of Caribbean wetlands as a whole.
