I recognized this species from birding trips to Costa Rica , Belize , and Southeast Arizona but was surprised to sight one on Kiawah . Naturally , I grabbed my Sibley ’ s Guide as soon as I got home , and as I suspected , its range in South Carolina was noted as a “ rare .” Common sightings in the United States are usually in central Florida and coastal areas of Texas and Louisiana .
I emailed Aaron Given , the Town of Kiawah Island ’ s assistant wildlife biologist , a description of my discovery along with a photo . I asked what his experience had been with these ducks . He wrote back the following :
Black-bellied whistling ducks have expanded their range in the southeast . They are present year-round now in SC . They only recently have been showing up infrequently but regularly on Kiawah . We have had a few scattered reports going back 8-10 years , but this year there have been several sightings around Kiawah .
Inspired by this sighting and its apparent rarity , I kept looking every chance I had while biking through The Preserve . I had one or two more sightings in August , but my interest really spiked in early September . In the marsh where I took my first photo , I sighted a pair of whistling ducks well camouflaged low in the grass . Getting a decent picture was impossible , but then one of the ducks did a fly-around and landed on a branch above its mate . Got it !
You can bet I was back at that marsh daily until my big
64 Naturally Kiawah