Indian Spot-Billed Duck
Anas poecilorhyncha
Also known as: Spot-Billed Duck
Habitat
Aquatic
Diet
PlantSeed
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
1000 g
About This Species
A dabbling duck of lakes, marshes and rice paddies across South Asia, told by its pale head, dark cap and eye-stripe, and a bright yellow-tipped bill. Watch for it upending or dabbling at the surface in shallow water, often alongside other waterfowl, and listen for soft quacking calls. Most easily seen in the cooler months at wetlands and reservoirs, when numbers build as birds gather to feed and rest.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Keep to the shoreline or a hide and avoid wading into the water, since flushing ducks repeatedly from a wetland burns energy they need for feeding and can disrupt a whole flock rather than one bird.
- Wetland and waterfowl protections exist in parts of its range but vary between countries, so it is safest to assume a cautious distance rather than a specific figure.
- Viewing with binoculars or a scope from the bank gives good views of feeding behaviour without pushing birds off the water.
LCAvesAnseriformesAnatidae
Seasonal Activity
337,638 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Anseriformes
- Family
- Anatidae
Traits
- Diet
- PlantSeed
- Foraging
- Aquatic
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 1000 g
Photo
(c) Vijay Anand Ismavel, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA)
CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.