West Indian Whistling Duck – British Virgin Islands. 2002

British Virgin Islands Post has issued the Birdlife International stamp series depicted the West Indian Whistling Duck or Dendrocygna arborea on year 2002. The issued stamps combined in one souvenir sheet depicted from their life ( from egg till a mature bird). Of course logo of Birdlife International was printed on the sheet.

The West Indian whistling duck is a large goose-like duck with relatively long legs that extend beyond the tail in flight. The upper-parts are mostly brown with pale edgings to the feathers; the rump and tail are blackish. The bill is black and legs are greenish.The length average is 52 cm and the weight average is 1,150 grams.This ducks usually feed nocturnally in stands of royal palm and agricultural fields.

The West Indian whistling duck lives year round in wooded swamps and  endemic to the Caribbean, still locally common in Cuba and uncommon in the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and the Cayman Islands.The West Indian whistling duck population is estimated to have less than 10,000 to 25,000 individuals and is on the decline due to hunting, habitat destruction and predation by the introduced mongoose.