Wood Duck

Wood duck

Wood duck (Aix sponsa)

Help the wood duck: DONATE TODAY.

Considered by many to be the most beautiful of North American waterfowl, the wood duck is a perching duck that normally nests in cavities in trees.

Appearance:
Wood ducks are medium-sized perching ducks. Breeding male has an iridescent green and white crested head, red eyes, red and white bill, chestnut breast, golden flanks and iridescent back.
Female is a drab version of the male, but is considered striking compared to other duck hens.

Breeding:
Wood ducks typically pair on the wintering grounds or on the return migration to the breeding grounds. Arrive on breeding grounds in April. Nests in preformed tree cavities made by tree diseases, fire scars, lightning and cavity-making birds like pileated woodpeckers for nest sites and also use artificial nest boxes. Females lay 7-15 white-tan eggs which they incubate for an average of 30 days. Male begins to spend less time with female once she begins incubating eggs. Females stay with young until they have fledged and then leave to undergo a feather moult.

Habitat:
Wooded wetlands, rivers, streams, lake and river edges.

Range:
Wood ducks breed in much of southern Canada and the eastern U.S., but is largely absent from U.S. Prairies, Great Plains and southwest. Winter range includes extreme southern Ontario, the southern U.S. and Mexico (in smaller numbers).

Diet:
Varied diet includes seeds, fruits, aquatic plants, insects and acorns.

Status and conservation issues:
Early European settlers over-hunted wood ducks and numbers were greatly reduced by 1900. 
A complete ban on hunting wood ducks between 1918 and 1941 contributed to a steady increase of the species until the 1980s when population growth leveled off; populations are now conside red secure.

Intereseting facts :
In southern parts of the breeding range the wood duck regularl y produces two broods in a single breeding season - and is the only North American duck to do so. 
Fe males wi ll sometimes 'nest parasitize' or lay eggs in the nest of another wood duck. 
Nickname 'woodies' or 'woody'. Unlike most other ducks has sharp claws for perching in trees.