Muscovy Duck

How to find it

Start in the lower Tempisque basin and around Palo Verde National Park, where numbers are highest. One local naturalist sees them most often along the Tempisque River and in the sugarcane fields. Some fly across roads in Guanacaste, so watch the sky as well as the water. Wild birds are wary and fast-flying, so expect one that flushes and flies off rather than one you can approach. Outside the Palo Verde region truly wild birds are hard to find, and tame behaviour or white plumage beyond the wings suggests a semi-domesticated bird.

How to recognise it

Look for a very large, heavy duck, black with a strong green metallic gloss.

The upper and lower wing coverts are white and easy to see. The bill is banded black and whitish, and the legs are black.

Males are much larger than females. A male measures about 86 cm and weighs about 3 kg, with a prominent crest and bare black facial skin with red knobs. A female measures about 64 cm and weighs about 1.3 kg.

Immatures are browner and duller, with only a small white patch on the upper wing.

What it sounds like

Recording: damienxw, CC0 1.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

Muscovies are usually solitary and never gather in big numbers. At most 3 or 4 may feed together on a large carcass. They usually sleep in trees, and males are aggressive toward each other.

They nest in large tree cavities, usually high up and often in gallery forest, and lay 8 to 10 white eggs. Breeding is mainly in the rainy season. The ducks make strong seasonal movements linked to changing water levels in their habitat.

Where it lives

It lives along streams and rivers with gallery forest, in wooded swamps and in mangroves. It often feeds in more open places such as marshes and grain fields.

In Costa Rica it stays mainly in the lowlands of both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes. The national biodiversity portal maps it in many conservation areas, from Guanacaste and Tempisque to Arenal, Tortuguero, the Central Pacific and Osa, which shows a wide but patchy range.

When to see it

Numbers at Palo Verde peak in the dry season.

Similar birds

Domestic Muscovies vary widely, from all white to brown, grey or mixed, and often have a whitish belly, neck and face. Wild birds are black with white only on the wings. The white patches show clearly in flight but are hard to see on a swimming bird, which can look all dark.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The official Costa Rican list gives Pato Real, with Pato Perulero as the other accepted name. In Costa Rica the wild birds are the pato real and the farm birds the pato criollo. Other names for the domestic bird include pato mudo and pato casero.

Status and conservation

Resident (R) on the AOCR list, described as uncommon and local in Costa Rica, and protected under the Wildlife Conservation Law.

Photography tips

Scan from a distance, since wild birds flush easily, and watch for the white wing patches when one takes flight. Roads and sugarcane fields in Guanacaste can offer chances to see them crossing.