EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Click on images for larger versions

The Beautiful Torrent Duck

Credit & Copyright:  Dr. Bruce G. Marcot
  

Explanation:  This strikingly patterned inhabitant of cold, cascading creeks is a Torrent Duck. We are at Petrohue Falls in Vincent Perez Rosales National Park, out of Puerto Varas, southern Chile.   Torrent Ducks like the cold, rushing highland waters of the mountains, and in this way is similar to other distantly-related duck species that also inhabit similar habitats ... in particular, the Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) of North America, and the Blue Duck (Hymanolaimus melacorhynchos) of New Zealand.  Recent studies, though, reveal that the Torrent Duck may be most closely related to the Blue Duck although they are separated by a vast South Pacific Ocean.     Typical habitat of Torrent Ducks in South America:  cold, fast-running mountain streams and rivers with torrents and cascades of waterfalls.