About Nomonyx dominicus (Linnaeus, 1766)
Breeding adult males of this species have a rust-colored body, a black face, and mottled wings. Adult females, non-breeding winter males, and juveniles have a barred brownish-gray body, with two horizontal dark-colored stripes crossing the buff-colored face. This species is distributed from southern Texas and Mexico through Central America to South America, and is also present in the Caribbean. Primarily non-migratory, masked ducks are recorded as very uncommon vagrants in the southernmost United States, along the Mexican border, and in Florida. As of 2000, the population of masked ducks in Texas was 3,800 birds. On April 1, 1962, an individual was recorded in Lowndes County, Georgia, where it was photographed by Alexander Wetmore. Masked ducks breed in any freshwater body with marsh vegetation that is surrounded by dense tree cover, and they also occur in mangrove swamps.
