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Musk Ducks at Portland Harbour

January 30, 2016 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

It was the night before I was due to go to Portland. I was exhausted, having just returned from Apollo Bay, and panicking about how I needed to get ready to leave early the next day.

Keep in mind I have anxiety and it is normally extraordinarily hard to leave the house. My brain was all over the place.

I knew that Portland was a great place for seabirds and did a quick google about what to see. I stumbled across Ian Smissens blog, where he described seeing musk ducks eating crabs at the Portland Harbour.

Woohoo! I love musk ducks! I decided I would focus on the harbour and Fawthrop Lagoon when visiting.

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It was so worth it. There were three ducks when I was there on the Saturday, two males and one females. They were very busy feeding on both crabs and fish. They were four there when I visited there the next day. Apparently this behaviour is quite unusual?

If you are patient and follow them, they may come a bit closer to shore which allows for slightly better photography. Lighting conditions may be challenging. I’ve read that the harbour is great for other seabirds and did see some kelp gulls, but didn’t explore it properly. Definitely for next time!

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I’d love to find out more information about this population. I know they live in places like WTP, which I assume is partially salty.

I don’t know if their feeding behaviour is different either, although I would LOVE to know the species of the critters he is eating.

I highly recommend checking them out if in the area.

Filed Under: Shipwreck Coast Tagged With: musk duck

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