Masked Duck / Maskerstekelstaart

Masked Duck (Nomonyx dominicus)

Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
September 2022 Kabalebo © Armida Madngisa nature guide	same three © Armida Madngisa nature guide	September © David Ascanio
September © Dick Lock

Picture of a group of Masked ducks near Fungu Island in the Ralleigh Falls nature reserve, made by David Ascanio in September 2006. Groups of up to 14 masked ducks have been reported at forested rivers not near the sea (Wayombo, Maratakka, Tempati and Coppename) in the months August to October, in the other months the observations are from marshes near to the sea. They breed from Texas to Chile in marshes, also in Suriname as Renssen saw a pair with ducklings at Marienburg. The males have a blue bill and a black head, females and young males have their head with two stripes as in the photo.
Dick Lock made the video of a group of Masked Duckson the upper Nickerie river in 2022. In September in the forest as with some photos above.

Video (click the link or the 'play'-button to see)
Video recording of a Masked Duck © ;

Distribution

Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :
A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone. Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.

Names
Scientific name:	Nomonyx dominicus
Order:	Anseriformes
Family:	Anatidae, 12 in Suriname
Dutch:	Maskerstekelstaart
English:	Masked Duck
Sranan ('Surinamese'):
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela):	Patico Enmascarado
Portugese (Brazil):	Bico-roxo
Arowak:
Carib:
French:

Observations through the year	Observations of breeding through the year

The 26 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.	The 1 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest. Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences. The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Observations through the year

Observations of breeding through the year

The 26 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.

The 1 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).