Wood Duck

Wood Duck:

COMMON NAME: Wood Duck

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Aix sponsa

DESCRIPTION:

Brightly colored, male’s head is iridescent with a long "slick-backed" crest, red-orange eyes and bright bill with red, yellow, white and black. His throat is white, neck and breast are chestnut. By contrast, female is grayish and brown with a short crest, but can be identified by a prominent teardrop-shaped eye patch around her dark eye. Her bill is black. Male and female have matching blue speculums, white bellies and brownish underwings.

LIFE HISTORY:

Many wood ducks court and pair in the winter. Female wood duck prefers a natural cavity 30+ feet above ground, at least 5 inches around and 22 inches deep for her nest. She lays 9 -12 egg and incubates them for a month. After hatching, the ducklings use their sharp claws to climb to the nest opening. As mom calls from the ground, they leap to her. She leads them to water, which may be a mile away.

They do not return to the nest.

Wood ducks do not form large flocks or associate with other waterfowl. Small flocks of 15 -20 family members will migrate together.

ECOLOGY:

Niche: Feeding from the surface of the water, he eats aquatic plants, nuts, fruit, insects, small fish and crustaceans. On land he may visit fields for grains, grasses and seeds; wood duck eats more fruits and nuts than any other American duck. Ducks are eaten by bobcats, coyotes, and various other mammals.

Habitat: He is named for his preferred habitat: open woodlands. With sharp claws for perching in trees, small flocks live around open forested lakes and wooded river bottoms. Areas that have woodlands reduced can benefit from installing nest boxes to help keep wood duck populations stable.

The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds by John K Terres. ISBN# 0-517-03288-0.

National Geographic Society Field Guide to the Birds of North America, second edition. ISBN# 0-87044-692-4.

www.AllAboutBirds.org/guide/Wood_Duck/id
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