|Splitting the Magpie-Goose as a separate family is an innovation, based on genetic distance, begun by Sibley & Ahlquist (1990) and Sibley & Monroe (1990). However, those authors also placed the whistling-ducks in a separate family ['Dendrocygnidae"]. The new Howard & Moore checklist (Dickinson 2003), in which family-level decisions were made by Joel Cracraft, elevates Magpie-Goose to family level while the whistling-ducks remain a subfamily [Dendrocygninae] of the large ducks, geese, and swans family [Anatidae]. I follow suit here because I'm including all the Dickinson (2003) families.|
|In Australia, family groups and flocks of Magpie-Geese move from swamp to wetlands depending on water levels in the dry and wet seasons. Pairs or trios build floating platforms of spike-rush for nests as the swamps fill in the wet season. In typical situations, two females share a nest with one male, each female laying 6-9 eggs. Often they stand over the eggs to shade them from the tropical sun rather than incubating. Youngsters are flightless until 11 weeks of age, and they remain with the parents until the following wet season (Frith 1979, Blakers et al. 1984).|
|Photos: The flock of Magpie-Geese
Anserianas semipalmata was photographed by John Marchant in Hastie
Swamp, Queensland, Australia, on 8 Nov 1982. Photo ©
John Marchant, used with permission, all rights reserved.
There is no family book but this group is covered in standard waterfowl texts, and the Australian literature that includes this family is reasonably extensive.
Blakers, M., S.J.J.F. Davies, and P.N. Reilly. 1984. The Atlas of Australian Birds. Royal Australian Ornith. Union, Melbourne Univ. Press, Carlton, Victoria.
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