Oxyura maccoa

The African hardtail is 48-51cm long and weighs 450-820g. Male and female feathers are different colors. The male duck has a black head, brown eyes, a blue bill, a black throat, a chestnut back and gray legs. The female duck has a grayish-brown body, a dark gray bill and a dark brown crown, with stripes on the nape and cheeks. The length of the legs is usually well-proportioned.

It is found in Botswana, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Angola, Burundi, Malawi, Eswatini.
It lives in wetlands, river areas, lakes, ponds, swamps and other places.

The Maccoa Duck (Oxyura maccoa) is a typical social teal of the family Anatidae.

African hardtail ducks mix with other ducks and are good at swimming and diving. Very afraid of people. Take off at the first sign of movement. Good at swimming and diving, often diving underwater stay time is not long, generally about 3-5 minutes. When swimming, the tail is often raised high. When taking off from the water, it often skimmed over the water for a considerable distance before it had to leave the water. He does not travel on land and rarely flies. Rarely tweets. It feeds on aquatic plants, but also insects, fish, frogs, crustaceans, mollusks, worms, etc.

African hardtail ducks have more than one breeding partner and breed from May to July. The nest is a floating nest built in shrubs or grass on the ground near water. Each clutch lays 4-8 blue eggs. Incubation period is 25 days.

Listed in the International Red Book of Birds of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 2009 list ver 3.1 - Near Threatened (NT).

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