According to the Birdlife Australia website, the Freckled Duck Stictonetta naevosa is not present in Tasmania. In Victoria, the closest mainland state to us, they are considered an endangered species. However, occasionally, a few have made their way across the waters of the Bass Strait (About 300 KM) to the island of Tasmania. Some have even been thoughtful enough to turn up at some easily accessible sites, such as Gould's Lagoon in Hobart and Queechy Lake in Launceston.

As I was down in Hobart recently I stopped by to have a look. I was fortunate in seeing twelve Freckled ducks. I was unfortunate in that they were all sleeping or lazing about in the middle of the lagoon which is a bit on the far side for my lens. Thus the photos are quite heavily cropped and not the best quality. Still, its a record of seeing these beautiful ducks.

Naturalist, Michael Sharland, wrote of early sightings of Freckled ducks saying it is seldom recorded in Tasmania. Records he knew of, mostly from duck shooters, were of two at Bridgewater in 1925, three at Interlaken in 1925, one at Interlaken in 1936 and one at Otlands in 1972. They seem to be visiting more regularly these days. For example, based on eBird records, the first sighting at Queechy Lake, made by myself, was of a solitary Freckled duck on 30 September 2013. Since then, there are now 29 records for this site with counts of up to 116. I should point out that these ducks are not breeding here. They are simply vagrants who have flown here, possibly to escape drought or other unfavourable conditions on the mainland.

_{( All photos, videos, and text on this blog are by @mostly.nature )}

References:

• Sharland, Michael (1980) A Guide to the Birds of Tasmania. - Drinkwater Publishing, Hobart Tasmania.
• eBird. 2017. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance [web application]. eBird, Ithaca, New York. Available: http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed: September 23rd, 2017).

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