The Wood Duck: One of the Most Unique Ducks You'll Ever See

The Anadidae is a very large family of waterfowl that includes 170 species of ducks, geese, and swans. One species is impressively unique in looks and behavior, the wood duck. Belonging to a very small genus called Aegspansa, the wood duck's only close relative is the Mandarin duck of Asia. They are unique looking compared with other ducks, a noticeably boxy crested head, a thin When it comes to facial patterns and coloration, these birds are quite pretty and distinct. In this sexually dimorphic species, it is males who display such elaborate ornamentation in their feathers, along with a dazzling array of multicolored iridescence and conspicuous red eyes. They aren't always so glamorous though. It's a show they put on to attract females during the breeding season. For a small portion of the year, males are grayish brown, looking somewhat similar to females. However, they retain the red eye, red and white beak, and have a whiter throat. Hens may not be as showy as males, however they are still quite beautiful and are more colorful than most other species of female ducks. Juveniles look similar, however females have a white teardrop around their eyes. Throughout their range, the wood duck looks the same, with no known geographic variations. Unlike most other species, these guys are perching ducks. They weren't always in this category though, once considered dabbling ducks, like the mallard and other pond ducks. The change came about due to certain physical and behavioral characteristics. For one, the young of these birds aren't the typical yellowish color of other ducks. Instead, they are white below and dark above. Also appear to have a longer tail than other young dabblers. The other reason for being categorized as perching ducks is their ability to sit on limbs thanks to their strong claws that can grip bark and perch on branches. Over fall courtship is observed more so than in spring, suggesting that this is when the majority of birds pair up. For the winter, wood ducks retreat to warmer southern locations of the United States, beginning to leave around mid-October. Come spring, they head back to Canada, arriving by April to prepare to breed. For birds who lost their partner, a new mate will be found on the breeding grounds when they return. Although many birds head north for summer, a lot of wood ducks also remain in the United States. One neat thing is that females often return to the same general area they were raised. Their mate, on the other hand, may have come far away from where they were hatched. At the age of one, female ducks are ready to breed, entering into a very long reproductive season of around five to six months. A monogamous bond is formed with a male, but it's only seasonal. Come next spring, they have a new mate. Drakes lose interest in the pair bond just after the female begins incubating, and they don't provide any care for the young. It seems that the purpose of the pair bond is to defend the female from other males. There is a wide variety of habitats they like to breed in, such as creeks, rivers, overflow, bottomlands, swamps, marshes, beaver, and farm ponds. It's interesting that even though swamps, marsh, and overflow areas seem to provide better habitat than streams, for this duck, the extensive distribution of streams creates the single most important habitat for breeding birds. The elegant female often produces two broods in one season, something that other ducks of North America don't do. This is more common in birds of southern latitudes than northern though, and contributes to the length of the breeding season. The second clutch tends to be smaller than the first. To raise a brood, they do something that only a few other ducks do, nest in a tree cavity. However, they do not make them and rely on ones already formed, which is more common in mature forests that have many trees with pre-formed cavities, pointing to the importance of these forests to wood ducks. Sometimes they will use cavities by the large pileated woodpecker. Sites they prefer are ones near to or over water, anywhere from 1 to 15 meters above the ground, and in trees more than 40 centimeters in diameter. Depending on the availability of cavities, hens will use nest sites within 2 kilometers of water. Nests are lined with down of their breasts. Anywhere from 8 to 15 eggs are laid by the hen and she incubates them for 28 to 30 days. 24 hours after hatching, the ducklings leave the nest, usually taking place in the morning. Once they make their big leap, the female brings them to a body of water nearby where they remain in her care for the next 8 to 9 weeks. While females take care of their young, males join other drakes, eventually growing into a large group. Once her young take their first flight, typically by mid-August in eastern Canada, the females leave their broods moving some place a short distance away, where they undergo their molt in undisturbed swamps and marshes. When it comes to their diet, these ducks show a lot of flexibility. A list of food they tend to eat includes smartweed, water primrose, panic grass, duckweed, millet, water lily, blackberries, and wild cherries, as well as flies, beetles, caterpillars, isopods, and snails. Typically speaking though, plant sources make up 80% of their diet. If their main source of aquatic food isn't plentiful, they may come to dry land to eat acorns and other nuts from forests and grains from fields. Wood ducks aren't territorial, however males will defend their mate when approached too closely. Over spring and fall, there seem to be no feeding territories. Pairs of birds hang out together while feeding, but do not interact. This lack of territoriality may be an adaptation to breeding in habitats with fluctuating water levels, where temporal and spatial distribution of food may vary. During the breeding season, wood ducks are less gregarious, but in late summer, groups of 15 to 50 birds form, and at roosting sites over fall and winter, 200 to 1,000 or more may come together. Due to its beautiful plumage, along with its meat, the wood duck has been a popular game duck bird for a very long time. On the eastern side of North America though, hunting of these birds increased a great deal after the arrival of early settlers. In those early days, it was likely the most hunted waterfowl, and due to there being no effective hunting regulations, they were sought after from September to April. It wasn't long before the wood duck had become scarce. By 1900, a once abundant species was now threatened with near extinction. 20th century ornithologists could see clearly that the extermination of the wood duck was imminent if no action was taken. To prevent that from happening, a total prohibition on hunting was enforced between 1918 and 1941, all made possible thanks to the Migratory Birds Convention of 1916. It wasn't just hunting that had contributed to the scarcity of the wood duck. The cutting down of large trees of bottomland forests was also at play. Between the total outlying of hunting, conservation of overmatured forests, and the introduction of nest boxes, the wood duck numbers saw a great comeback. It just goes to show how quickly a once abundant species can become extinct in such a short time by our actions or lack of action. If it weren't for the laws and conservation put forth back then, and the continued regulations on hunting, as well as all the hard work by conservationists to this day, there probably wouldn't be any wood ducks. Moreover, natural predators that eat these waterfowl would have lost a food source as well. It all trickles down. This unique duck would have just been a memory of the past. How depressing this could have been, so thankfully in this regard that didn't happen. Currently the wood duck comprises 10% of the annual waterfowl harvest in the U.S. In the Atlantic and Mississippi flyways, it is second only to mallard in the number of birds harvested. When harvest rates increase, it results in lower estimated survival of the species. Therefore, continued management policies to regulate hunting based on reliable population estimates are crucial to the population. Furthermore, protection between federal, provincial, and state wildlife agencies supply the wood duck with plenty of habitats that they need to survive. By preserving wetlands, most notably wood swamps, controlling pesticides, and maintaining overmature forests and nesting areas. All of these combined efforts ensure that wood ducks continue to be a source of enjoyment and a valuable resource in North America. There are ways you can help too. Something as simple as providing nest boxes properly placed and designed for them. The Canadian Wildlife Service recommends that nest boxes be at least 55 cm deep and 25 cm wide, with elliptical entrances no more than 7.5 by 10 cm. This should reduce nest predation by raccoons. Another way to keep raccoons from gaining access is to place the boxes on posts or poles over deep water or wrap sheet metal around the tree or post supporting the box. Starlings can also cause problems for nesting wood ducks, but a workaround with them is having the entrance hole larger than they prefer. Of course, to ensure the best results with production, these nest boxes need to be maintained on an annual basis, such as replacement of wood shavings and making sure that the box is sound and securely supported. I'll leave links to some good sources for further reading or future reference of nest boxes down in the description. I have never seen a wood duck in person, we don't have them in my area, but I've seen pictures of them over the years and have always been impressed by their plumage. Such a beautiful duck. Learning a bit their near extinction, but how measures were put forth to help them rebound, made me proud of my kind. This is the side of humanity I love, how we can all come together and fix a problem, especially when it was one that we created. The potential for humans to ensure that the species of this planet remain in good numbers is there. I believe that all it takes for the majority to be on board is being educated on why it's important. That's some of my thoughts. What are yours? And did I forget anything important? Comment below. Also, I'd like to give a big thank you to the various people who shared their beautiful videos and photographs. I don't have the wood duck in my area and wanted to make a video on them for a while. Check out their social media pages. Links are down in the description. Thanks for watching. Take care. Happy birding.