Black-bellied Whistling Ducks have long been admired for their beautiful coloring, charming faces, and sparkling personalities! 
On this recent late afternoon at Circle B Bar Ranch Reserve, they were having a particularly good time! Scores of BBWD‘s gathered in the marshes, whistling loudly as they flew back and forth overhead, and jostling for good viewing positions in the trees! 🤗 
“The Black-bellied Whistling-Duck is a boisterous duck with a brilliant pink bill and an unusual, long-legged silhouette” (All About Birds-Black-bellied Whistling Duck). They’re known for their erect, upright posture, whether standing on land or on a branch. 😉
The photogenic Black-bellied Whistling Ducks – formerly called ‘tree ducks’, because they most often nest in tree cavities – are plentiful year round here in Florida, luckily for us! 
To find out more about Circle B Bar Ranch Reserve, the wonderful place where we photographed these fun-loving BBWDs, click HERE!
Birder's Journey 
They’re quite beautiful, and unusual to me to see them perched on the dead branches (very few of our duck species do so)
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They really are handsome looking ducks, aren’t they? I recall thinking how peculiar it looked the first time I saw a BBWD in a tree!
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So it’s not just me then! 😀
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I just saw some of these beauties this past week. They are delightful!
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They really do have quite the personalities, don’t they, Kathy? 😉
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Such a funny sight! How do they keep so balanced??
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I know! 😅I always wonder the same thing about cormorants and other we’d-footed birds landing and perching on narrow branches!
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I looked it up and it’s only an hour from my Mom’s! I’m putting it on my places to visit while visiting Mom list. I hope I get to make that trip this year.
These ducks are exotic looking and remind me of female Wood Ducks. They too nest in trees, but you know that! 😀
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P.S. I was just going through my archives looking for an image of a Blue-winged teal and discovered in 2009 while in Mexico I saw Black Bellied Whistling Ducks! It was one I needed to ID and never went back to look it up. I’m doing a little happy dance! 😀 Thank you for the assist with the ID!!
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lol! What a fun coincidence. Glad to be of service!
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LOL! 🥰
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Oh I’m so glad this is near your mom’s, Deborah. It’s one of my favorite birding spots in Florida – only wish it was closer for us. It’s about 3 hours from where we live. I’m sure you’ll love it!
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They have just started to breed in the Lowcountry marshes. The last 2 – 3 years we have found them, don’t know of any before that.
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I guess maybe their territory is gradually moving northward, just as the ranges of so many birds seem to be shifting in recent years. Hope you continue to see them!
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Awesome! Do bird watchers understand if they use these sounds to communicate to each other in a specific way?
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Very good question, Yishai! I don’t know but I’m checking into it, Yishai. My guess is that one can get an idea of what they’re communicating by the intensity of their whistles combined with their behavior at any given time.
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These are marvelous! I love seeing the video of them in the tree with moss included, cool!
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Thanks, Donna! My husband took the video with his phone. It really illustrates the BBWD atmosphere on that afternoon far better than any single photo could.
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Lovely photos and video BJ, I love whistling ducks they are so beautiful and very community minded, these guys behave a bit like Wood Ducks by nesting in trees.
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Thanks so much, AB! Yes, they were congregating in droves that day, on the ground in the marshes, too, all over the preserve. I’ve never seen so many together at once.
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I haven’t seen one BBWD in the wilderness only in pictures. It’s going next in my wish bucket. Your photographs are fantastic, Carol! Thank you. 🙂
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Thanks a million, HJ! I do hope you get a chance to see them – they’re a real treat!
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Freedom allows these beautiful birds to roam about nature’s offerings.
They love what it has and we love them for being here,
thank you for this great presentation!
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Thank you for visiting and sharing your thoughts, Eddie! We do indeed! 🤗
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Coincidence! I was looking at my photos of these only yesterday (deleting 2/3 with the benefit of hindsight…). I published a bird book for N Bahamas, with a complete checklist from 1950. Within 2 months the first ever BBWDs were spotted, making the checklist obsolete! Quite soon after, the first recorded sandhill cranes (which you recently featured) arrived…
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My husband always says there’s no such thing as a coincidence 😉. Somehow, it was just meant to turn out that way!
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The genus name Dendrocygna means ‘tree swan,’ which is confusing, given that this isn’t a swan.
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Curious! But then again, I know some species of swan also are thought to whistle. (Though I believe that was a mistaken notion, and it’s really just a sound from their feathers/wings).
Never sure whether to take Wikipedia seriously, but this is interesting info re the Whistling Duck’s ‘true identity’:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistling_duck
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The fact that the article details a bunch of possibilities, each attributed to a specific source, inclines me to give it credence. It seems fair to say that ornithologists haven’t gotten this group of birds figured out yet.
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How fortunate for Floridians to have the black-bellied whistling ducks so accessible. Thanks too for the link to the Circle B Bar Ranch Reserve, it looks wonderful. Your photos of the BBWD here are truly delightful, BJ; and the video did a good job of recording the whistling. I’ve seen whistling ducks in other countries, and I find their whistling so enchanting. Great post, many thanks.
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Thanks so much for your always delightfully specific and warm feedback, Jet! Glad you enjoyed this and hope you get to visit Circle B one day! My husband took the video. He always says he doesn’t want me to give him credit on my blog, but I really should anyway. 😉
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This was fascinating. I don’t think I’ve seen this species before. Locally, about the only ducks I ever see in trees are wood ducks. That second photo made me laugh as I first thought one duck was standing atop the back of the other. 🙂
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These ducks were excitedly flying in all directions and tumbling over one another. I’m sure at some point they actually were standing on top on one another! 😅
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What apparently tall and handsome birds. It must be wonderful to watch all that bustling and whistling activity!
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They are great fun! We have them closer to home, too, but this particular afternoon was a real treat! Probably hundreds of them altogether, all whistling and flying busily about.
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It must have been a fantastic experience.
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How gorgeous they are, and how I wish I could see them one of these days. Not in Colorado, though, I will have to travel to their home.
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Yes Tanja, they are really incredible creatures. Truly prehistoric in appearance and fascinating to learn about!!
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Terrific photographic series of a really handsome duck!
The “B” is addictive …..
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Thank you so much, Wally. The Black-bellied Whistling ducks are very photogenic!
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