Spot-billed Duck

Anas poecilorhyncha

The Spot-billed Duck is a large duck with a mottled dark-brown back, a blackish rump and undertail, a light buff face and a dark brown cap.  Dark brown lines run through and below the eye, and the neck is light in front and dark behind. The bill is black with a distinct yellow tip or spot.  The terminal half of the inner tertial feathers is white, showing in the resting bird as a distinct white patch on the dark body, and in flight it shows a blue speculum. The legs are bright reddish orange.

The Spot-billed Duck feeds mainly on seeds, grasses and aquatic vegetation which it gets by dabbling or tipping in the water, or by grazing and probing on land.  The zonorhyncha subspecies is a common winter resident in Taiwan, being found in marshes, rivers, coastal wetlands and tidal mudflats.

References:  :  Handbook of Birds of the World Vol. 1; A Field Guide to the Birds of China (Mackinnon and Phillipps); 100 Common Birds of Taiwan (Wild Bird Society of Taipei)