Current Status and Distribution of the Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis) in Georgia.

The Oriole 77: 81-84

Zusammenfassung

One hundred seventy-seven species were confirmed breeding in Georgia during the Breeding Bird Atlas project (Schneider et al. 2010).  Since completion of the Atlas data collection in 2001, the Black-bellied Whistling Duck (BBWD; Dendrocygna autumnalis) has become a confirmed breeder in the state, and is expanding its range throughout the state. Georgia’s BBWD population appears to be a natural expansion of Florida’s well-established BBWD population. In concert with this species’ range expansion into Georgia, it was first detected in South Carolina in 1994 and has bred there since 2003 (Harrigal and Cely 2004). The current range expansion in the southeastern U.S. seems to be synonymous with its ongoing range expansion in the southwestern U.S. (James and Thompson 2001). This year (2013), sightings have occurred as far north in the U.S. as Delaware.

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