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Musk duck
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==Description== [[File:Biziura lobata male - Sandford.jpg|thumb|left|Male displaying the large bill lobe that appears during breeding season, Sandford, Tasmania, Australia]] Adult males are {{convert|60|to|70|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and have a distinctive large, leathery lobe underneath the bill; females are {{convert|47|to|55|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and unadorned. Their drab dark grey-brown, slightly pin-striped [[Feather|plumage]] is inconspicuous and does not differ between the sexes. This species weighs an average of {{convert|2398|g|lb|abbr=on}} in males and {{convert|1551|g|lb|abbr=on}} in females, with the smallest females weighing only {{convert|993|g|lb|abbr=on}} and the largest males weighing up to {{convert|3170|g|lb|abbr=on}}. On average, they are the second-heaviest diving duck in the world after the [[common eider]], with male musk ducks actually being slightly heavier than male common eiders, but female eiders being rather larger than female musk ducks due to that species' lesser size sexual dimorphism.<ref name = "CRC">''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses, 2nd Edition'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (2008), {{ISBN|978-1-4200-6444-5}}.</ref> Musk ducks float very low in the water, almost like a [[cormorant]], and the large, webbed feet are well back on the body. The ducklings are covered in dark brown [[down (feather)|down]]. In its native range, the fanned tail is distinctive, allowing to distinguish this species from the [[freckled duck]] (''Stictonetta naevosa'') which has similar size, colouration, and habits. The [[blue-billed duck]] (''Oxyura australis'') has a similarly shaped tail, but the main colour of its males in breeding plumage is a much richer chestnut brown. Females and males in nonbreeding plumage are very similar, however, and if one is not intimately familiar with the slight differences in behaviour, they cannot be told apart from female musk ducks at a distance. Male musk ducks in the breeding season are usually unmistakable due to the large bill lobe.
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