EVENING GATHERINGS AND NIGHT ROOSTING OF AFRICAN BLACK DUCKS

Abstract

Summary Siegfried, W. R., Frost, P. G. H., Ball, I. J., & Mckinney, D. F. 1977. Evening gatherings and night roosting of African Black Ducks. Ostrich 48: 5–16. Black Ducks Anas sparsa were observed to move at dusk from rivers to gather at a large irrigation dam in the Eerste River Valley near Stellenbosch, South Africa. Many spent the night there, returning to rivers during early morning. For two years, starting April 1973, observers visited the dam at least twice a week, and they counted the Black Ducks present during the hour before time of local sunset and thereafter until it became too dark to see. The Black Ducks visiting the dam included single adults and juveniles of both sexes as well as pairs, some of the latter being territory-holders on rivers. Certain individuals were observed fairly regularly, especially in summer and autumn when the greatest numbers of birds were recorded roosting at the dam. Young Black Ducks fledged in 1973 and 1974 were first observed at the dam during December each year....