Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Anseriformes > Anatidae > Aythya > Aythya australis

Aythya australis (Hardhead)

Synonyms: Anas elapsa; Aythya reclusa; Nettion elapsum; Nyroca australis; Nyroca reclusa

Wikipedia Abstract

The hardhead (Aythya australis) (also white-eyed duck) is the only true diving duck found in Australia. Hardheads are common in the south-east of Australia, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin, but also in the wetter country near the coasts. They are moderately nomadic in normal years, but disperse widely in times of drought. Significant numbers reach as far afield as New Guinea, New Zealand, and the islands of the Pacific, where they can remain for some time, even breeding for a season or two.
View Wikipedia Record: Aythya australis

Infraspecies

Aythya australis australis (Australian white-eye)
Aythya australis extima (Banks Island white-eye)

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
0
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
6
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 2.15597
EDGE Score: 1.1493
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  1.918 lbs (870 g)
Birth Weight [2]  60 grams
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Granivore, Herbivore
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  10 %
Diet - Plants [3]  70 %
Diet - Seeds [3]  20 %
Forages - Water Surface [3]  50 %
Forages - Underwater [3]  50 %
Clutch Size [5]  11
Clutches / Year [1]  1
Incubation [4]  26 days
Mating Display [2]  Ground display
Snout to Vent Length [1]  19 inches (48 cm)
Wing Span [4]  26 inches (.67 m)

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
East Melanesian Islands Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu No
Southwest Australia Australia No
Sundaland Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand No

Predators

Haliaeetus leucogaster (White-bellied Sea Eagle)[6]

Consumers

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 5Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 6Biology and Diet of the White-bellied Sea-Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster Breeding in Northern Inland New South Wales, S.J.S. DEBUS, AUSTRALIAN FIELD ORNITHOLOGY 2008, 25, 165–193
♦ 7Species Interactions of Australia Database, Atlas of Living Australia, Version ala-csv-2012-11-19
♦ 8Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0