Wood Ducks / Puddle Ducks
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Description:
The Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) is a medium-sized perching duck. An adult is about three-quarters of the length of an adult Mallard.
The adult male has distinctive multi-colored iridescent plumage and red eyes.
The female, less colorful, has a white eye-ring and a whitish throat. Both adults have crested heads. When swimming, wood ducks bob their head back and forth in a jerking motion, which makes them easy to spot.
Distribtion / Habitat:
Their breeding habitat is wooded swamps, shallow lakes, marshes or ponds in eastern North America and the west coast of the United States. They overwinter in the southern United States near the Atlantic coast. In the southern parts of their range, they may be permanent residents.
The population of the Wood Duck was in serious decline at the beginning of the 20th century as a result of over-hunting and loss of suitable nesting sites. Changes in game laws and the construction of nesting boxes in suitable habitat resulted in this species' return to sustainable numbers.
- Click here for instructions to build a nest box for the Wood Duck.
Nesting:
They usually nest in cavities in trees close to water, although they will take advantage of nesting boxes in wetland locations if available. Their personality is however somewhat shy and skittish.
Females typically lay between 9 and 14 eggs. However, if nesting boxes are placed too close together, females may lay eggs in the nests of their neighbours, which may lead to nests which may contain as many as 40 eggs and unsuccessful incubation.
The day after they hatch, the young climb to the nest entrance and jump to the ground.
Call / Song:
The male's call is a rising whistle; the female gives a whistled whoo-eek if startled.
Copyright: Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia.org
Sub-species:
Diet / Feeding:
Wood ducks feed by dabbling or walking on land. They mainly eat plants and seeds.
Ducks generally feed on larvae and pupae usually found under rocks, aquatic animals, plant material, seeds, small fish, snails and crabs.
Feeding Ducks ...
We all enjoy ducks and many of us offer them food to encourage them to come over and stay around - and it works! Who doesn't like an easy meal!
However, the foods that we traditionally feed them at local ponds are utterly unsuitable for them and are likely to cause health problems down the road. Also, there may be local laws against feeding this species of bird - so it's best to check on that rather than facing consequences at a later stage.
- Click here to find out which foods to feed them that will offer the nutrition they need to survive a cold winter and remain healthy
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