First record of Spotted Whistling Duck 'Dendrocygna guttata' for the Northern Territory

The Spotted Whistling Duck Dendrocygna guttata occurs in the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea and was first recorded in Australia in 1995; it is now seen regularly in northern Queensland. The first record of the species in the Northern Territory, which is also the first Australian record outside Queensland, is presented here. A single bird was observed on six occasions from 27 December 2011 to 12 February 2012 at the Leanyer Sewage Ponds, Darwin. The initial observation was made immediately following a tropical cyclone, which formed in the Arafura Sea and tracked south to make landfall east of Darwin, suggesting that the bird may have originated from eastern Indonesia rather than Queensland.