Campbell Island teal  (Anas nesiotis)

Once thought to be extinct, the Campbell Island teal is now believed to be one of the world’s rarest ducks, after just 20 individuals were found on Dent Island in 1975 (4). One of the few remaining flightless birds in the world, this duck is a product of an island environment isolated from the rest of the world for more than 80 million years, and free from mammalian predators. To compensate for its lack of flight, the Campbell Island teal can run very rapidly along the ground when disturbed (4) (5). Breeding males are a dark sepia colour, with strong green iridescence on their head, neck and back, dark chestnut tones on the breast, and lighter plumage on the abdomen, in addition to a conspicuous white ring around the eye and obvious white tail spot. During non-breeding plumage, the iridescence on the head and back becomes less intense, the tail spot becomes indistinct and the eye ring becomes pale fawn. Females are uniformly dark brown with a paler abdomen, and prominent white eye ring (2). The call involves a series of soft, high-pitched whistles from the male, and low quacks and growls from the female (6).