The Muscovy Duck Cairina moschata is a large perching duck.
It breeds inland in central and tropical South America. It is a species whose normal habitat is forest lakes and streams. Its most distinguishing feature is its bare red face, with a more pronounced caruncle at the base of the drake's bill; other distinguishing features include a low crest of feathers that it can raise on its head, long talons on its feet and a wide flat tail. The drake has a dry hissing call, and the hen a quiet trilling coo.
A Muscovy hen can set up to three times each year, and lays a clutch of 8-21 eggs usually in a tree hole or hollow. The eggs incubate for 35 days.
It has benefited from nest boxes in Mexico, but is uncommon in much of the east of its range due to persecution. Food is plant material obtained by grazing or dabbling in shallow water.
This species is widely domesticated. Wild birds are all-dark apart from the white in the wings, but domesticated birds, like those pictured, often have other plumage features. They are usually also bulkier than the wild birds. Muscovy hens range from 5 to 10 pounds, while drakes are commonly 10-15 pounds. Domesticated birds have re-escaped into the wild and now breed outside the native domain, including western europe and the United States.
