Food
Mainly vegatable matter including seedheads of grass and weeds. Also earworms, insects and various crustaceans. Young eat principally insects both aquatic and terrestrial during the first 5 weeks after hatching.
Voice
Male, a deep, honking, 'zzonk', female, a higher, 'zeeik'. Often utter a duet in flight.
Paradise Shelduck (Tadorna variegata) [XC390356]
by nick talbot from Te Kouma, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato, New Zealand (call)
Paradise Shelduck (Tadorna variegata) [XC404808]
by Romuald Mikusek from Omarama, Waitaki District, Canterbury, New Zealand (call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Endemic to New Zealand being widespread on both the North and South Islands. Mainly early August - October, rarely November
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Nest
A depression in the ground, or in a hole in the ground on log, thickly lined with down and some adventitious debris. Nests in tree hollows usually below 3m above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
5 - 15, usually 8 - 10; smooth, close grained white but becoing discolored; oval; 67 x 49 mm. Incubation: about 30 - 35 days; by female only.
Young
Precocial, nidifugous. Fledge in about 8 weeks.
Similar Species
Adult males and juveniles with Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides) which is similar in size, shape and posture but has a white collar, a chestnut band across the breast and mantle. Juvenile female with juvenile and female Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides).
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
BirdLife International Species Factsheet