First records of two duck species for Western Indian Ocean |05 May 2025

Cotton pygmy goose at Intendance, the first record for the western Indian Ocean (Photo: Contributed)

First records of two duck species for Western Indian Ocean

By Adrian Skerrett

The wetland within the grounds of Cheval Blanc Seychelles Resort on Mahe is one of the finest remaining wetland habitats in Seychelles.

Here, Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS) has been engaged as environmental consultants. One morning in June 2024, during an MCSS tour of the wetlands, Chris Mason-Parker and Rebecca Filippin spotted an unusual small black and white duck they had not seen before. From references they identified it as a species never recorded previously in Seychelles, cotton pygmy goose. 

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