Blue-billed duck
Oxyura australis Gould, 1837
The blue-billed duck (Oxyura australis) is a species in the family Anatidae, order Anseriformes. Recorded adults weigh 798 g to 850 g and live up to 16 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the blue-billed duck
- Weight
- 798 g – 850 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 60 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 16 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 27 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 5.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
How big is the blue-billed duck?
Where does the blue-billed duck live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The blue-billed duck is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the blue-billed duck?
The blue-billed duck (Oxyura australis) is a small Australian stiff-tailed duck, with both the male and female growing to a length of 40 cm (16 in). The male has a slate-blue bill which changes to bright-blue during the breeding season, hence the duck's common name. The male has deep chestnut plumage during breeding season, reverting to a dark grey. The female retains black plumage with brown tips all year round. The duck is endemic to Australia's temperate regions, inhabiting natural inland wetlands and also artificial wetlands, such as sewage ponds, in large numbers. It can be difficult to observe due to its cryptic nature during its breeding season through autumn and winter. The male duck exhibits a complex mating ritual. The blue-billed duck is omnivorous, with a preference for small aquatic invertebrates. BirdLife International has classified this species as Least concern. Major threats include drainage of deep permanent wetlands, or their degradation as a result of introduced fish, peripheral cattle grazing, salinization, and lowering of ground water.
From the Wikipedia article “Blue-billed duck” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blue-billed_duck&oldid=1313706097), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the blue-billed duck endangered?
The blue-billed duck is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the blue-billed duck classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderAnseriformes
- familyAnatidae
- genusOxyura
- SpeciesOxyura australis Gould, 1837
Synonyms Oxyura australis victoriae
Other names and names in other languages (32)
- بط أزرق المنقارArabic
- malvasia australianaCatalan
- kachnice australskáCzech
- hwyaden biglas AwstraliaWelsh
- Australsk SkarveandDanish
- Schwarzkinn-RuderenteGerman
- Australische RuderenteGerman
- blubeka anasoEsperanto
- Malvasía australianaSpanish
- austraalia händpartEstonian
- australiankuparisorsaFinnish
- Érismature australeFrench
- צחראש כחול-מקורHebrew
- australska čakoraCroatian
- szálkás réceHungarian
- Gobbo beccazzurroItalian
- オーストラリアオタテガモJapanese
- australinė stačiauodegėLithuanian
- Australische StekelstaartDutch
- blånebbandNorwegian
- sterniczka australijskaPolish
- pato-de-bico-azulPortuguese
- marreca-de-bico-azulPortuguese
- pato-de-rabo-alçado-australianoPortuguese
- Австралийская савкаRussian
- potápnica tmaváSlovak
- Australijska plavokljuna patkaSerbian
- australisk kopparandSwedish
- Avustralya DikkuyruğuTurkish
- савка австралійськаUkrainian
- 澳洲硬尾鸭Chinese
- 藍嘴硬尾鴨Chinese
Relatives of the blue-billed duck
Other species in the same genus Oxyura.
White-headed duck
Oxyura leucocephala
Ruddy duck
Oxyura jamaicensis
Lake duck
Oxyura vittata
Maccoa duck
Oxyura maccoa
Andean duck
Oxyura ferruginea
CompareBlue-billed duck vs White-headed duckBlue-billed duck vs Ruddy duckBlue-billed duck vs Lake duckBlue-billed duck vs Maccoa duck
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the blue-billed duck?
An adult blue-billed duck weighs 798 g – 850 g and has a wingspan of 60 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the blue-billed duck live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the blue-billed duck for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the blue-billed duck endangered?
The blue-billed duck is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the blue-billed duck live?
The blue-billed duck has a recorded lifespan of 16 years.
What kind of animal is the blue-billed duck?
The blue-billed duck (Oxyura australis) belongs to the family Anatidae in the order Anseriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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CreatureData. (2026). Blue-billed duck (Oxyura australis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/blue-billed-duck
“Blue-billed duck (Oxyura australis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/blue-billed-duck.
@misc{blue_billed_duck_2026,
title = {Blue-billed duck (Oxyura australis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/blue-billed-duck},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}