#tadorna

Ruddy Shelducks (Tadorna ferruginea), family Anatidae, order Anseriformes, Madhya Pradesh, India

Propaganda:

AKA pari, parry, parrie, and pūtangitangi in Māori. Originally described in 1789 as Anas variegata, by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He based it on English ornithologist John Latham description of the ' Variegated goose' in his A General Synopsis of Birds.

A large duck endemic to NZ, and seasonally hunted. In fact, the arrival of humans on the islands actually INCREASED their number, thanks to land clearing opening up habitat they found suitable, but overhunting lead to wild fluctuations in their population until bag limits and other controls were put in place. Their diet is mostly pasture, but they will also devour any inverts they come across while grazing.