FAMILY ANATIDAE 12g 



Order ANSERIFORMES 

 Family ANATIDAE : Ducks ; Patos 



This family, of world-wide distribution and many kinds, has 14 

 species in Panama, of which 5 are resident and 7 come as migrants 

 during the period of northern winter. There are 2 others that appear 

 to be of accidental occurrence through stray individuals. Habitat 

 for these birds is somewhat restricted since the species concerned 

 frequent broad reaches of fresh or brackish waters. They have been 

 best known on the Pacific slope, though now numbers of the 

 migrants come to the artificial ponds made in recent years in the 

 extensive cleared areas between the Changuinola and Sixaola rivers 

 on the Caribbean side. 



The isthmus, particularly along the Pacific is a regular flyway for 

 those that pass to South America in their migrations. Duck hunting 

 is a favored sport and numbers are killed each year. 



KEY TO SPECIES OF ANATIDAE 



1. Hind toe without a lobe 2 



Hind toe with a lobe 14 



2. Lower end of tarsus with reticulate scales 3 



Lower end of tarsus with transverse scales 5 



3. Neck black ; forepart of head white ; sides heavily barred. 



White-faced tree duck, Dendrocygna viduata, p. 130 



Neck not black; no white on head; sides plain or longitudinally 



streaked 4 



4. No white in wing ; mainly cinnamon brown, with elongated feathers on sides 



and flanks Fulvous tree duck, Dendrocygna b. bicolor, p. 131 



A prominent white patch in wing ; breast gray ; abdomen black. 



Black-bellied tree duck, Dendrocygna a. anttimnalis, p. 132 



5. Space around eye partly bare, usually with colored caruncles. 



Muscovy duck, Cairina moschata, p. 134 

 Space in front of eye feathered 6 



6. A ridge or flat-sided tubercle on upper surface of bill near base. 



American comb duck, Sarkidiornis sylvicola, p. 137 

 Bill without a ridge or projecting tubercle on upper surface 7 



7. Bill greatly broadened at tip Shoveler, Spatula clypeata, p. 145 



Bill not broadened at tip 8 



8. Larger, 460 mm. or more long; bend of wing without a prominent blue 



patch 9 



Smaller, not more than 380 mm. long; bend of wing with a prominent blue 

 patch 11 



9. Bill smaller, not more than 38 mm. long ; a prominent white patch on wing. 



American widgeon, Mareca americana, p. 146 

 Bill larger, 50 mm. or more long ; no white patch in wing 10 



