Mountain Duck Or Australian Shelduck

Mountain duck or Australian shelduck in south eastern Australia one see often though not every day
From lakes or water dams never far away
As big as a small goose of black, chestnut and white
Nature writers of them few stories ever write
On log stump or in old rabbit burrow the female bird lay
Ten to a dozen eggs of white to pale gray
The male and the female parental duities does share
And of the young ducklings always take good care
The male and the female apart not hard to identify
As the female has a white ring around either eye
By sight or by sound not hard to recognize
With a loud honking call even for birds of their size
Mountain ducks i see often though not every day
From water they are never that far away.