African Black Duck

Swarteend · Anas sparsa

A dark, shy duck of running water, sooty-brown with neat white blotches across its back. Pairs are territorial, patrolling their own length of river and seeing off intruders. It dabbles and up-ends in the current for insects and plants. Unlike most ducks, it shuns big open pans for flowing streams.

Log your African Black Duck sighting — free →

How to identify it

A dark, sooty-brown duck with bold white spots on the back and an orange-edged bill, almost always on flowing rivers.

Where to see it in Kruger

Lives on clear, fast-flowing rivers and rocky streams rather than open dams.

Did you know

Pairs guard their own stretch of river and chase off any other black ducks that dare to visit.

Often confused with

Yellow-billed Duck

See it? Log it — free.

MyKrugerHoliday is a free, offline field guide and one-tap sighting log for a Kruger self-drive. No ads, no account, works with no signal.

Open the app → Browse the field guide