Indian Spot-billed Duck

The Indian spot-billed duck is a large dabbling duck, about the size of a mallard at 55–63cm long, with a wingspan of 83–95cm and a weight of 790–1,500g. It is mainly grey with a scaly pattern, and on the water its white tertials form a stripe along the side that can be seen from far off. The dark bill has a yellow tip, and birds of the nominate subspecies have the red spots at the bill base that give the species its name. In flight it shows a green speculum with a broad white band at its base (Wikipedia, general species account).

It prefers medium-sized freshwater wetlands with vegetation cover to large open water, and dabbles for plant food mainly in the evening and at night. Outside the breeding season it gathers in small flocks. Breeding follows rainfall and water levels; the nest is on the ground, hidden in vegetation near water, and 8–14 eggs are laid. It was long treated as one species with the eastern spot-billed duck. In India it is resident with a very large range of about 1.5 million km² and a stable current trend; SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).